Beloved....

"'I will deliver you...and this is the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing which He has spoken: Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.' so the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down."

-Isaiah 38:8

~ * ~

The implications of this verse are stunning, and, barring divine intervention, earth-shattering.  These words were given by God to Hezekiah in answer to his petition for deliverance from death.  

Moved by His beloved's prayer, God quite literally moved heaven and earth to save Hezekiah, to deliver and defend him.  In response to one person's cry for help, the Creator of the universe altered the course of everything that makes the world go 'round.  Flaunting physics, daring the sun to defy Him, He demonstrated His deity over His own creation for the sake of His chosen, His child.

As we approach the new year, and all it holds, let us remember Who holds us...let us remember the place we hold in His heart...

Beloved

~ * ~

"He delivered me because He delighted in me."
-Psalm 18:19

Rebirth...

~ + ~

Conceived in more love

than human passions can imagine

Embraced in the serene solitude of this embryonic season

A Garden enclosed

in the womb of Your keeping

I find myself,

Born Again...

~ + ~

"They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He. Has. Done. This."

-Psalm 22:31

Lift

~ ~ ~

High Places, Holy Ground

The heart I thought I'd lost I've found

Precious flight, powerful wings

How can I help but fly....

~ ~ ~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"  10/24/10

fettered faith

~ ~ ~

Overripe fruit

hanging heavy with longing

for His harvest hand...

for His touch...

for His voice...

that still turns water into wine

~ ~ ~

~ ~

~

~

~~~

"Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

-John 2:10

Crucible

"And in the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,

"Eloi! Eloi! Lama sabachthani?"

-Mark 15:34

~ ~ ~

He Understands

With the same bewilderment and despair He cried out as we have,

My God!  Why have You forsaken me?

He knows how it feels to be met with silence in that moment

He knows how it feels to have that last shred of faith slip through your fingers

To be out of lifelines and left alone

He Knows

He knew we'd need a God who "Gets It"

He knew we'd need a God who could reach us,

in the deepest valley

in the lowest pit

even at the doorway of death

So he made sure His reach would stretch that far

He's been there and beyond, He's done that and more

His reach does stretch that far

You are not out of His reach

You are not alone

~ ~ ~

"Now my soul is in agony, but what shall I say, 'Father, save me from this hour!'?  No, it was for this purpose that I came to this hour."

-John 12:27

Dinnertime

"Come!  All you who are thirsty!  Come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

-Isaiah 55:1-2

~ ~ ~

Which credentials carry the most weight on our religious resumes?  Which assets do we prize on the pages of our portfolios?  What do we bring to the table when called on to feed a hungry and thirsty world?

Are the impoverished souls surrounding us forced to settle for silver and gold, or can we, like Peter, say to them, "I have what you really need, and what I have I give you..."

What did Peter have?

He had Jesus.

Are we serving up superfluous sundries or something of substance?  Christ or cubic zirconias?

For too long we've offered tokens, trinkets, and trifles to a world starving for the Savior.  For too long we ourselves have been content to nibble around the edges of Who God is, to fill up the gaps of our faith with garnishes...

...But Immanuel is inviting us to feast on His fullness, to know Him as Peter knew Him, to know the breadth and length and depth and height of Him, so that we can, in turn, invite others to the table, so that we have solid food with which to "feed His sheep".

So come to the table

Pull up a chair

Make yourself comfortable

***It's Dinnertime***

~ ~ ~

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me."

-Jeremiah 9:23-24

Fall

Psalm 90:10

~ ~ ~

paper leaves pirouette to the ground

in a brazen crimson cacophony of color

like prima ballerinas

turning 

               twirling 

fluttering

                      falling.....

their grande and golden finale

And coming to rest

to curtain's close

they lay their bodies down

a prismatic pall blanketing the earth

awaiting burial,

funereal rest

finally

               Finally

finally

    Rest.

~ ~ ~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 9/24/10

~*

Harvest

"Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

-Psalm 126:5

~ ~ ~

Those who sow in shadow and rain

Reap in laughter and light

Gathering in where once they had scattered

Hope is Harvested

Souls ignite

The once barren fields bequeath a banquet fit for royalty

And yet the King bids you and I

“Come to the table!  Dine with Me!”

Hearts that were hard, dry as the dust

Parched and completely past feeling

Are filled to the full

Quenched and made whole

An Epilogue of Healing

~ ~ ~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 11/08

Bridge

~ ~ ~

Seasons change,

inevitably

imminently,

They change

Suddenly, everything and nothing is different

But there has been a change

And time will tell more stories

The plot will thicken

And hopefully richen

into more than just Deja vu

of days gone by...

The self-same death and dawning

The crux of old and new

The bated breath in between...

it begins...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 9/21/10

It's Time...

"Remember Lot's wife."

-Luke 17:32

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Regret.

It's the rear view mirror on our life, the thing that holds us hostage in the hallways of the past till we're lost in the labyrinth of time gone by, the ashes of opportunities lost, the illusion of a life not lived

Regret is the riptide that sucks us into the undertow of tearful remorse and restless ruminations

It halts forward momentum, freezes us in our tracks, puts our dreams for the future on hold, and taints our appreciation of the present

It's a stalemate between then and now

It's the siren song that entices our attention from the business at hand, i.e. Living

Yes, there is "a time to weep" and "a time to mourn", but there is also a time to heal, a time to laugh, a time to dance, a time to build, a time to reap...

...and there is a time to Live..............

.....Time to get on with your Living.....

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind"

-Philippians 3:13-15

9/11

Two towers fell today ten years ago

Two lives torn apart and ten million more

Two parties came together and cried out to One God

Dual towers downed ending duality on our sod

But oh what ephemeral unity

Was born of death that day

That Tower fell so swiftly

So silently gave way

To ambivalence and bickering

To answers we could not find

To forgetfulness of heroes

To the novocaine of time

The best of human nature

Could not stand the test

But sadly deferred

Humbly bowed

And laid itself to rest.

 

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 9/11/10

~ ~ ~

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity...For there the LORD commands the blessing"
-Psalm133:1,3

Fear not, for I AM

"He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy"

-Psalm 18:16-19

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fear not, for I AM 

It was the fourth watch of that fateful night, the proverbial eleventh hour, sometime between three and six AM...the darkest time, the do or die time, right before dawn.  The disciples had been battling a behemoth of a storm that must have felt like all hell had been hurled against them. 

They were beyond exhaustion, terror-stricken, utterly spent, beyond hope...

...Or so they surmised.....

Jesus was fast approaching, with the fear that was buffeting his beloved under His feet. 

The oft mistranslated moment of Truth came as He drew near: It wasn't the quieting of the chaos outside; it wasn't Peter's walk out onto the waves; It wasn't the rescue of this impulsive disciple from drowning.  The moment we miss surfaces when Jesus first comes on the scene; it was the Word He wielded, the signet ring of His Sonship that He spoke sternly to the tempest strangling their hearts:

Take Courage!  I AM.  Don't be afraid.

And with that annunciation, the storm was settled. 

"Fear not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

-Isaiah 41:10

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Love Life

+

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

-Luke 10:25-28

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" the man asked.

Jesus' answer was scandalously simple.

You. Shall. Love.

That was it.  The million dollar answer to the million dollar question.

You can almost hear the pharasaical protestation:

What about the "do's and don'ts"?  The "Thou Shalls" and "Thou Shall Nots"?  Repentance and Right Living?  Holiness and Good Deeds?

But Jesus didn't go there.  He simply said,

Love

and that said it all.

Love God and Love each other.  Do this and you will Live.

We Love, We Live.

It's that simple.

 +

"God is Love"
1 John 4:8

Time to Fly

"Those who wait on the LORD...shall mount up with wings..."

-Isaiah 40:31

mid-life-crisis?

~ ~ ~

"Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved?"

-Song 8:5

~ ~ ~

(written in response to a friend who is finding her way...)


...A feeling of "suspended animation"...yes, I can relate to this feeling exactly...a feeling of Chrysalis...hoping there are wings on the other side of the waiting.......so far there has just been more waiting...

...feels like a string of false finishes sometimes...just when I arrive at what I think is the end of the course, there are still "miles to go before I sleep"....

...is my need patience? endurance? trust in God's timing?

Whichever, it is definitely a stretch right now......my soul is being stretched beyond what I thought I could bear....but here I still am, bearing it...not broken......

Hard to walk/wait without a roadmap...there is the fear sometimes that I'm missing the boat entirely.....

It is a struggle right now....one that I hope means growth, one that I hope is not futile fumbling...one that I hope leads to a crack in this cocoon, one that will let in some light...one that will result in flight....

In the analogy, "Hinds' Feet on High Places", the main character, Much-Afraid, whom the Good Shepherd has promised to take to the High Places, is speaking with the Shepherd....In one defining moment, near the end of the journey, near the top of the mountain, in a chapter called "In the Mist", He asks her with utmost solemnity,

"Do you love me enough to be able to trust me completely, Much Afraid?"

Much Afraid answers, "You know that I do love you, Shepherd, as much as my cold little heart is capable..."

The Shepherd replys, "Would you be willing to trust me, even if everything in the wide world seemed to say that I was deceiving you - indeed that I had deceived you all along?"

Much Afraid answers hastily, "Why, yes, I'm sure I would, because one thing I know to be true, it is impossible that you should tell a lie..."

The Shepherd looks deeply, compassionately into her eyes, and very quietly asks, "Much Afraid, supposing that I really did deceive you? What then?"

Much Afraid looks into His eyes, then bursts into deep sobbing tears and then, after a time, she decides, and, looking straight into His face says...."My LORD - if you can deceive me, you may. It can make no difference. I must love you as long as I continue to exist. I cannot live without loving you."

At this point the Good Shepherd laid His hands on her head, then with a touch more tender and gentle than anything she had ever felt before, repeated as though to himself, "If I can, I may deceive her." Then, without another word he turned and went away.

...In the end, Much-Afraid makes it to the High Places intended for her all along.....But the path takes her first through, not a mid-life-crisis, but a crisis-of-faith...A place of decision...

I believe that is where we are at...I believe that it is necessary, critically necessary, that we go through this, though we do not understand just now. But it is a crucial piece of the journey. A conduit to the bursting cocoon.

When the disciples were on the boat, in the middle of the raging storm, completely without their bearings, Jesus comes on the scene. They were in a "mid-ocean-crisis"...

Though Jesus momentarily permitted it, His ultimate intent was not that they should leave the boat and walk on the water, but that they should invite Him into the boat with them, so that He could take them to the other side, out of the storm, safe to shore, where a new part of their lives would begin, with greater trust in the One who navigated them through.

See you on shore, my friends, perhaps just a short time from now...

your friend and traveling companion,

Hindsfeet
 

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."
-Job 13:15

~ ~ ~

100

"A woman came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table...Jesus said...'She has done a beautiful thing to me.' "

-Matthew 26:7-10

~ ~ ~

 

One hundred holy heartbeats mutually shared

One hundred heartcrys between souls dually bared

One hundred pieces of myself passed out as broken bread

One hundred fragments multiplied for His Beloved to be fed

 

One hundred footprints follow, though obscured in desert sand

The burden of this journey borne as we've traveled holding hands

So little ground behind us, So much further yet to climb

the moments shared so fleeting, the double-edged sword of time

 

One hundred psalms, One hundred prayers

poured into this vessel for this purpose prepared

This alabaster jar of my heart's hard-earned treasure:

The perfume of pain, of loss, of surrender

Emptied out here, poured out to my Lord

Transformed into beauty

redeemed

and restored

 

~ ~ ~

 

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart-
These, O God, You will not despise."
-Psalm 51:17


(written to mark my 100th post)

Trust

"But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say 'You are my God.'

My times are in Your hand"

-Psalm 31:14,15

~+~

The cliche "pregnant pause"

"bated breath"

and "deafening silence"

that presently pervade my path

are Cliche because these things are common to man

Cliche because they are the go-to tools of the Potter

the primary privations used to teach His timing

used to teach us Trust

And so I wait

And so I watch

And so I brace myself against voices

which flatter me into false starts
and premature emergence
which promise a counterfeit exodus

and countermand Christ's call to "Wait"

I endure the strain of stillness

And quiet myself to hear...

I know, in the end, "I shall see God"

~+~

* Job 19:23-26 *

Letting Go.....

"Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life],

and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life]."

-Matthew 10:39 (Amplified Version)

~ ~ ~

So many "Letting-go"s on this pilgrims' path...

Letting go of anything that diverts His flow through me

Letting go of, not just sin, but of the good that is not His best

Letting go of "the lower life" that I cling so tightly to at times

Letting go, Living in a state of surrender, Clinging only to Christ as the ever-changing world ebbs and flows around me.   Loosening my grip on everything that would shake me from that still centered place.

I sometimes find myself resisting this release, prefering the synthesized sense of security that my pacifiers of choice afford me, but the letting go that God calls us to does not leave us empty handed, rather, it leaves us open handed to take hold of His "higher life", His many blessings, the very hand of God.

~ ~ ~

Vigil

~ ~ ~

She watched the smoke signals turn from rosy gold to lavender grey as the day dipped into dusk...Harbingers sent from a heart held very dear...a heart she knew in spirit, like the ethereal wisps hovering overhead....they looked as though, at any moment, they might rain down on this desert of hers...


She gazed at these precious messengers moving slowly across the sky until they blended into shadow, until their whisper was enveloped into evening...Seven geese sailed into their wake and diminished in the distance...


The apparitions disolved into darkness and soft milky light soaked into her sky from somewhere very faraway...Resting from her vigil, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes....She didn't have to see the moon to let its light settle into her soul.....it was there, out there somewhere, that was all that mattered......

~ ~ ~

Compass...

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts"

-Colossians 3:15

~+~+~+~

We've all been there: we turn a corner, or take a step to the right or to the left, and suddenly, no peace.  Our internal umpire tugs on the reins in an attempt to reel us in.  At that point we have a choice (ah the double-edged sword of "choice"):

We can hit the pause button long enough to let God speak into the situation and correct our course,

or,

We can press through the un-ease and drown out the dinging alarm with a myriad of distractions, rationalizing away this harbinger of the heart entirely. 

My mom use to say, "If you feel like you're pushing string, Stop.".  When something we're doing feels forced, when we feel like we're suddenly slogging through mud or trying to run under water, it's time to stop, check our compass, and turn until the needle is pointing toward Home again.

I like how the Amplified version of the bible puts it:

"Let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state]"

-Colossians 3:15

There are times when there is joy in the journey, there are times when there is pain on our path, there are times when we walk through the darkness of the shadow of death, there are times when our way is like the light of dawn.  Wherever the road leads, let the litmus test be Peace.

~*

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

-Isaiah 30:21

Clay

"But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand."

-Isaiah 64:8

Our lives are not half-hazzard, they are not the random result of fickle chance or human choice - these merely second causes - but rather, they are the design of Deity, the Master Artist's magnum opus, an intimation of Immanuel Himself.

There is much work that goes into re-making us into His image, but each day we spend on this Potter's wheel of a planet brings us closer to that end.

The path to "Finished" from "Authored" can be arduous indeed, at times painful, at times downright disorienting and riddled with disillusionment. So much surrender is required, so little leeway is allowed.  But as we trust ourselves more fully into our loving Father's hands, something sublime and truly useful is formed: a vessel into which He can pour Himself, out of which He can quench the thirst of thousands...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith"

-Hebrews 12:2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rain

"The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad...the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose"

-Isaiah 35:1

~ ~ ~

Let it trickle down

till it covers this dust

till it runs through my hair

down my neck

over my shoulders...

Let it soak through my pores

and pool up inside me

till I'm flooded and full and overflowing...

For all who are thirsty

Make me more than mere mirage

Let them come and drink deeply of You

Living Water flowing freely

Let nothing occlude

Wet this wasteland with mercy

Let this dry desert bloom...

~ ~ ~

E.A.A "Hindsfeet" 7/11/10

From Regret to Redemption....

"Remember my affliction and bitterness...My soul still remembers and sinks within me."

-Lamentations 3:19-20

How often have I immersed myself in immobilizing ruminations of time gone by, ruefully remembering mistakes made, opportunities lost, roads not traveled...My strength is slowly sapped, parched in the desert of this paralyzing pastime.

My attempt to re-construct the flimsy framework of forgotten sins,  to piece together the pick-up sticks of my past proves to be an excercise in futility, for unless the Lord builds the house I labor in vain.  God does not dwell on antiquity, He does not put His shoulder to the wheel of our self-reproach, He is not building monuments to our mis-steps and neither should we.

God does not take part in preserving our past, He is not interested in the relics of our wrong-doing.  He died an agonizing death to forever form a division between then and now, to forge the way from failure to forgiveness, to secure safe passage from sin to salvation, and to rebuild the road from regret to redemption.

"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope: Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

-Lamentations 3:21-23

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fair Trade?

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me..to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"

-Isaiah 61:1-3

What a gloriously inequitable exchange, one which could only come from the "foolishness of God"*, one which makes no sense whatsoever in man's economy (although we see where that's gotten us). 

In First Love's fashion He lavishes us with laughter for tears, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness, seemingly oblivious to the less than comensurate compensation offered in return.

He takes our toil and gives us rest, He trades serenity for the storm, He gives amazing grace for our guilt, and, as if that weren't enough, He laid down His life and died our death.

You see we serve a God who took into account, not what we could do for Him, but all that He could do for us.

"...that you may be able to comprehend what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:17-19

*1 Corinthians 1:25

Wait

"Wait"

-Psalm 37:7

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wait.

Wait.

What a hard thing to hear from the Almighty, especially in answer to some seemingly earnest request; something we perceive to be of considerable portent and requiring immediate action on the part of Providence. 

When we find ourselves in the fiery furnace of the eleventh hour, our endurance all but spent, it can be tempting to take matters into our own hands, rushing ahead to rectify the situation, right the wrong, resolve the problem pressing us...

...but the still small voice persists; the Lord's love constrains us; the counter-intuitive call of Christ bids us be still, let go, and let Him be God.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

" For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him."

-Isaiah 64:4

Prayer....

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,

for his love is better than wine."

-Song of Solomon 1:2

~*~*~*

without a word, through silence shared

through faraway and forever

my heart rises to meet Yours

and I am Home

baring whimsy and wishes

buds waiting to blossom

dreams defying the passage of time

I lay myself open to quintessence of light

finding First Love's fulfillment

sipping Solomon's wine...

...sacred simplicity
secret things shown
in solitude's bounty
my cup overflows...

~*~*~*

"I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine"
-Song of Solomon 6:3

Beacon...

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

-Psalm 119:105

Plodding along this path I'm on, feeling my way through the darkness, my eyes strain to see signs, signals, anything that lends meaning to the maze, any reassurance that I'm on the right track and headed in the direction of Home. 

The way seems winding and endless at times, looming beyond my limited scope, underscoring my smallness in the scheme of things...

That's when the gentle reminder comes...I am sheep, and not Shepherd, follower, not Forerunner.  My feet have but to follow in Your footsteps...

If my eyes can see You, then I see far enough. 

"He made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them on safely, so that they did not fear...He shepherded them according to the integrity of His heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands."

-Psalm 78:52,53,72

Free

"Whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

-John 8:36

~*~*~*

Wings flooded with Genesis light

Spirit unfettered

Finally free

Promises kept

Destinies Dawning

Divinity's Authorship Finished in Flight

And so we soar beyond wildest dreams

mouths filled with laughter

cocoons left behind

Out of confinement

And devil's dark night

Into Land of the Living, Into Faith become Sight

~*~*~*

E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 6/10/10

"Those sho sow in tears shall reap in joy."

-Psalm 126:5

Blessing...

http://danieldenardo.blogspot.com/2010/06/god-beams.html

“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

-Numbers 6:24-26

What a beautiful benediction breathed from the heart of our God over His children.  Almost lyrical in it's prose, presented to Moses from our Maker Himself to be spoken over His posterity.

If there was ever any doubt concerning the posture of Providence toward us, these words clarify His stance resolutely and settle forever every argument against a benevolent Sovereign, depicting our Creator's deep desire to drench His beloved in His goodness.  These words are not just inkblots on a page, but a powerful invocation, meant to impart Christ's love to you and me.

As such, may these words wash over you, and fill you to overflowing; may they bless you, and keep you, and give you peace.

"Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine..."
-Daniel 9:17

~*~*~*

Thief

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy."

-John 10:10

Jesus came that we might have life and that more abundantly: Our Father floods us with good and perfect gifts and fills our cup to overflowing; the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God; the windows of Heaven pour out more than we can pack in...

Our Lord is all about blessing His children; 

our enemy is all about robbing that blessing from us.

If he can convince us that our gifts our garbage, cause us to take God's goodness for granted, or corner us into believing our abundance to be base, he wont even have to take it away; we'll throw it away ourselves.

If he can trump an entire garden with one fruit tree, a birthright with a bowl of soup, a man's soul with thirty pieces of silver, what will it take to obscure your all?  What dainty is he dangling in front of your face?  What empty promise is playing at your mind?  What tantalizing trifle is turning your head?   

Our blessing lies in the balance of obedience to a Father who has our best and highest at heart.  When the God who didn't say "no" to being nailed to a cross says "no" to us, we can trust that He has our wellbeing in mind, that He is not trying to plunder us, that He is trying to protect us.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

-1 Peter 5:8

Chrysalis....

"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it"

-Phillipians 1:6

Chrysalid creation

veiled from view

A cosmos concealed in His keeping

His best and His highest

hanging by a thread

awaiting the culmination of wings

Out of this place

New life will emerge

the substance of faith's vested vision

And what has been formed

will unfurl and rise

captive soul set free

one day

we will fly...

~*~*~*

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 6/1/10

Shepherd......

"Our Lord Jesus...that great Shepherd of the sheep."

-Hebrews 13:20

Hindsight being twenty-twenty, I can look back over my life and see God's providential guidance consistently plotting my path, though I can remember at times feeling no sense of any path whatsoever, feeling more lost than led. 

And yet, all the while, God's hand was firmly holding mine, with unflinching faithfulness.  His rod at the ready, His staff securing my every step. 

Even those prodigal steps I took that carried me far from home could not carry me outside of His reach, or outside of His heart. 

So you think you've gone too far, that Heaven's hand just goes so far?  I can tell you, as a beneficiary of God's gloriously fuzzy math, that He who leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one (my apologies to the ninety-nine), the One who screams "seventy times seven!" in the face of my sin, still tirelessly and tenaciously seeks out the lost. 

When this path leaves us bruised and bloodied, His heart bleeds and bends toward us to bind up our wounds, to take us tenderly back into His arms.  He does not leave us to navigate life's labyrinth on our own, but has immersed Himself in the maze,  and joined us in the journey, with a single eye on leading His loved ones back home.

"I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick."

-Ezekiel 34:16

~*~*~*

Holy hush........

"Be Still, and know that I Am God."

-Psalm 46:10

Where there is great stillness on our part,
there is great movement on God's.

This peculiar paradox is portrayed in scripture time after time: in parables, in proverbs, in psalms and in the lives of the saints.  When we are waiting on God, He is working behind the scenes; when we are quiet, His voice can command even the stormiest sea.

When Mary sat still at Jesus' feet to hear His word, He called that, and not Martha's serving and busyness, the one thing that was needed...

.....The One Thing.....

Stillness, Waiting, Quietness...all fundamental facets of our faith, all integral aspects of His action on our behalf...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today...The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

-Exodus 14:13,14

"Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command..."

Numbers 9:8

"The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

Lamentations 3:25-26

"Sit still my daughter...for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day."

-Ruth 3:18

"Wait on the LORD...and He shall strengthen your heart."

-Psalm 27:14

"Since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him."
-Isaiah 64:4

"I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps."

-Psalm 40:1

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?  My hope is in You."

-Psalm 39:7

"The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love."

-Zephaniah 3:17

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Puzzle Pieces...(a re-post)

(this post from 12/28/09 recently took on new relevance for me due to a dear friend's influence on my life, on my path, on my puzzle pieces. So I'm pulling this one out of the vault, back into the light of day, this one is for you, my dear friend...)

"...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:17-19

What a rich prizm of perspective is afforded me when I manage to see life not so much as a picture, but as a puzzle, and my particular persuasion as merely a piece of that puzzle among many many pieces that comprise the compostion.

Pardon the mixed metaphor, but mine is not a panoramic lens. There are others who have vantage points that vary from my own, whose vision I benefit from. What a gift to be privy to others' perceptions, especially where our concept of Christ is concerned.

Dozens of denominations make up the fragmented portrait of Christ that we present to the world today. How wonderful would it be if, instead of compartmentalized convictions and stubborn segmented stances, we could, as Ephesians 3:17-19 suggests, "come together", each faction foregoing it's appetite for autonomy, acknowledging that their piece of the puzzle is just that, one piece of an intricate array of pieces that make up a mosaic of our Messiah. When we're willing to do that, this jigsawed picture of Jesus will come together. Broken bread made whole again.

It's an age-old altercation that still ripples through the ranks today, a power struggle first depicted among the disciples in Luke 9:46-48: These factious followers were arguing about who among them would be the greatest. The epiphany that they were one body - making their question moot - had not dawned on them yet.

Two thousand years later we still struggle with that concept, clinging stubbornly to our separatism, but the call of Christ remains:

Come together

that you may know what you can't possibly know apart from one another,

vis a vis, the fullness of My Love.

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!...For there the LORD commanded the blessing—Life forevermore."

-Psalm 133:1,3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

                       

Heaven scent.....

"For we are to God the fragrance of Christ..."

-2 Corinthians 2:15

Do we evoke in others a desire to inhale deeply, to breathe in the perfume of our presence?  Does Christ dwell in us so richly that there is an effusion of His essence wherever we go? 

Our lives are a bouquet, given by God to a world He so loves.  He designed us to bud, to blossom, and to fill the earth with the fragrance of Christ.  We are the aroma of our Maker, the censers through which His ardor is diffused.

May these, the gardens of our lives, be so given over to God, that the world cannot help but fall in love.

"Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! 

Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out."

-Song of Solomon 4:16

~*~*~*~

Rest...........

D2 Photography

"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

-Matthew 11:28

Come, lay back into my arms, let your head fall back against my shoulder.....Rest......

Feel my steady breathing and let it become yours...Listen to my heartbeat and relax into its rhythm.....Rest......

Feel me around you and exhale in my embrace.....Rest.......

Hear my still small voice whisper over and over, "I love you, I'm here, all is well......."

.......Rest......

Close your eyes, let the day diminish, let my love enfold you, let me hold you close...

Let go your worries, you're safe here now...

You are mine, I am yours

All is well, my love...........

Rest

~*