See

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When I focus on what

i was

I lose sight of 

I AM

When I fixate only on the middle of the story

I become frightened

and forgetful

of

The Author

and

The Finisher

When I freeze-frame

on my grievous failings

on the heart-rending moments I wish I could undo,

fix,

re-frame,

I forego perspective of

The Big Picture...

...Framed in my Father's Arms

Seen through His Eyes

His Loving Lens

which Sees

Me

not my mistakes,

not my mishaps,

not my downright disastrous moves

and missed turns at Albuquerque...

but Me

His Child

His Beloved

His Precious One

"Be Thou my vision" I pray through the tears,

And He, with His trademark Tenderness,

with a knowing "you'll see" smile,

Gently lifts me to His lookout

Shares with me His view

Quiets the ferocious waves

Stills my self-flagellation

and Shows me

Hinds Feet

High Places

A Heart after His

Hope

a Future...

...and many blind,

who also need to see themselves as they really are,

as the apple of His eye....

...Hand in hand,

We Begin Again...

From His vantage point this time...

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"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now I'm found,

was blind,

but now,

I see."

-John Newton

David

"Rise, Take up your bed, and Walk"
-John 5:8

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He could've stayed there, you know...

In sackcloth,
In Ashes,
In Mourning,
In Grief...

And no one would have thought it strange

Indeed, they thought it strange when he arose,
when he ended his vigil
and took his place again
in the Land of the Living

The Child was Dead.
Remaining in the heart-rending remorse,
the regret,
the weeping, the wailing,
perhaps even wanting to die himself
would not bring back to life
the precious thing lost.

Still,
He could've chosen to stay

in the sorrow,
in the suffering,
in the sadness,
in the Ending...

and it might have been easier
it might have felt safer
and everyone would've understood...

...and Solomon and his Wisdom
Would have been Lost to the World
Forever

David chose to Get Up,
David chose to Live Again,
to Love Again,
to Try Again,
to Trust Again,

In God's Amazing Grace
In Second Chances
In Big Time Do-Overs...

And God Delivered...

...Big Time.

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"Behold, I AM doing a New Thing;
Now it Springs forth,
don't you perceive it?"
-Isaiah 43:19

Fish

"Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

-Jonah 1:17

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God is God of the Light and the Darkness....

He created Both;

Make no mistake,

Both serve His Purpose:

The thing that engulfs us in Night
becomes the vehicle God uses to

Deliver us to New Day

That which entombs us 

becomes the scene of Salvation,

of stones rolled away

The great fish

becomes the Ark

that transports us to High Ground

The event that deals the leveling blow

may very well be the burial

which precipitates Birth

When our compasses are spinning

God encompasses us,

God carries us,

God commands the "fish"

and the thing that swallowed us whole,
that dragged us to depths previously unfathomed,

suddenly serves as a segue,

Death defers

and we are given back

to Life.

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"You have brought up my life from the pit...

Salvation is of the LORD."

-Jonah 2:6,9

Emergence - a haiku

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The Kingdom of God

Spilling out, Flooding the earth.....

She's burst her cocoon

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"Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard,

nor have entered into the heart of man

the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

-1 Corinthians 2:9

Hineni

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Subjection to Trials is a Sacred Trust

With Isaiah, we say, "Here am I" to God,

and He takes us up on that.

It is not when we live in Ivory Towers

that our testimony is meaningful

to those in despair,

But when we, too, have been lost

When we know the bitterness of endings

When we've waded through 'Which-Way-Is-Up?'

and Not Knowing

When we've stood in the Painful,

Excruciating Pause

Between

Authored

and

Finished...

That place, my friends, that Sacred Ground

is where Trials are Transmuted into Meaningful Testimony

Into the Sustenance our Sovereign meant our lives to be

Into very Bread of Life

and Living Water,

For all who are thirsty,

For whosoever will...

Here am I, my Lord, Send me.

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"Do not be afraid; I am He Who Lives...

Death will be swallowed up in Victory."

-Rev. 1:17-18, 1 Cor 15:54

Answered Prayer...

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....Comes in Unexpected

Sometimes Disruptive

Sometimes Downright Disorienting Packages

Like a Rogue Wave

Your Boat is Blindsided

By this New Beginning

Not "Wrapped-Up-Pretty-With-A-Bow-On-Top"

As we've been taught all Gifts should be

But Messy

Misfit

Misaligned with our Best-Laid-Plans

and Illusions of control

Welcome the Mess

Welcome the (temporary) Imbalance

and Loss-Of-Bearings

Know that you are being Lifted

Know that you are Held

Know that you are Carried, and the Way is being cleared

For New-Normal

For Good and not Evil

For Hope and a Future

For More than your heart dared to ask, expect, or imagine.....

For Answered Prayer

For The Beginning.

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"As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day."

-Genesis 50:20

lost and found II

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Amazing,

This Knife's Edge

between 

Fearsome and Fearful

White Tiger

Trembling in the suffocating "safety"

of his self-made hiding place

for fear of being found...

Find me anyway.

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-e.a.a. "hindsfeet" 5/11/14

"the son of God came to seek and save that which was lost..."

-Luke 19:10

Gentle

"And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness and a delicate, whispering, still, small voice."

-1 Kings 19:11-12

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...God reveals himself here to Elijah, not in destruction, but in Gentleness.

He shows Himself to be trademarked by Tenderness

defined by a "Delicate Voice"

The God Who created the worlds with a Word

reveals Himself in a Whisper.

The One Who could've overwhelmed Elijah with His Magnanimity

instead came to him, His beloved, His chosen

in the minutiae,

in the diminutive,

in the Still Small Voice...

in Gentleness.

It's important to speak rightly of our God, especially to those in distress, those under duress, those dealing with the destruction that this world and its brokenness can bring upon us.

It is important to not be like Job's friends, who came under rebuke from the Most High, for misrepresenting God's character and His heart toward His beloved.

It's been said that those who intimately understand their God are God's mercy to His creation;

Understanding God's gentleness is a good place to start.

Meriam Webster expounds on this, God's defining characteristic, this way:

Considerate or kindly in disposition; amiable and tender.

Not harsh or severe; mild and soft: a gentle scolding; a gentle tapping at the window.

Easily managed or handled; docile: a gentle horse.

Not steep or sudden; gradual: a gentle incline.

Of good family; wellborn: a child of gentle birth.

Suited to one of good breeding; refined and polite: a gentle greeting to a stranger.

Noble; chivalrous: a gentle knight.

One of good birth or relatively high station.

tr.v. gen·tled, gen·tling, gen·tles

To make less severe or intense: The peaceful sunset gentled her dreadful mood.

To soothe, as by stroking; pacify.

To tame or break (a domestic animal, for instance): gentle a horse.

To raise to the status of a noble.

to tame; render tractable.

to mollify; calm; pacify.

to make gentle.

to stroke; soothe by petting.

to ennoble; dignify.

Synonyms

1. clement, peaceful, pacific, soothing; tender, humane, lenient, merciful. Gentle, meek, mild refer to an absence of bad temper or belligerence. Gentle has reference especially to disposition and behavior, and often suggests a deliberate or voluntary kindness or forbearance in dealing with others: a gentle pat; gentle with children. Meek implies a submissive spirit, and may even indicate undue submission in the face of insult or injustice: meek and even servile or weak. Mild suggests absence of harshness or severity, rather because of natural character or temperament than conscious choice: a mild rebuke; a mild manner. 3. temperate. 5. noble. 7. manageable, docile, tame, quiet. 9. courteous; polished.

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"Your Gentleness has made me great."

-Psalm 18:35