Scandalous Salvation

You, The-God-Who-Sees

I brace myself for judgement

But find only Grace

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 01/30/10

Genesis 16:13

Majestic minutiae...

"Do not despise the day of small beginnings..." -Zechariah 4:10

Jesus spent a lot of time making much of the mundane, seeing significance in the smallest offering, deriving great meaning from diminutive details...

He overlooked fortunes, instead focusing on the widow's mite; He considered a few loaves and fishes a viable option for the feeding of five thousand; He was impressed not by mighty trees, but by the mustard seeds they sprouted from.

When His disciples needed their idea of Heaven challenged, He placed before them a child.  At the height of His popularity, He dined with the lowest of the low, Zaccheus, a man as short on scruples as he was in stature. 

And when mankind needed a savior, He came as a servant.

So often I want to do grandiose things for God.  Occasionally I want grandiose things for myself.  But in Jesus' economy, the base things are the big things: the poor are rich; the weak are strong; we serve a God whose greatest achievement is marked not by some plaque hanging on a wall, but by His Son, hanging on a cross...

...This precious paradigm, this titanic truth, seeps into my sense of balance and turns it on it's ear.  I find myself scandalized and at the same time set free; or at least a bit more free; like a dimmer switch, being slowly turned up, letting in more light,

little by little...

Pilgrim's Progress.........

"For this is God, Our God Forever and Ever; He will be our Guide, Even to death."

-Psalm 48:14

The appeal of the past, callously clear,
Inducing dependence on what I know

Illusory insurance against pain, fear, loss...

A stagnant security

A tangible trajectory

Leading to a land no longer living

But in the periphery His pull persists

The still small sway

Quietly, consistently

Courting my attention

Vying for my vision

Compelling me to follow onto foreign ground

Faith peers into the foreboding fog
And instead perceives a Pillar of Cloud

Carving safe passage through walls of water

A Beneficence beckoning into the beyond

Leaving my yesterdays in memoriam

Abandoning their sinking sand
Freed from specious stability and the slavery of sentiment

I gather the little that's left of me

And step forward....

His Shepherding my only surety

Bolstered by His unseen Hand

Regenerate promise sustains me

The way unfolds,

I travel on.....

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 01/25/10

"For this is God,
Our God Forever and Ever;
He will be our Guide,
Even to death."

-Psalm 48:14

Layman's Lessons.....

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus often taught in parables.  There were so many lessons surrounding his disciples in the every day stuff of life, there for the teaching.  There were lessons about generosity and jealousy, forgiveness and freedom, hypocrisy and Heaven, the list went on and on, and could've gone further. 

Jesus' followers called Him Rabbi.  This was no trite title or term of endearment.  To be called Rabbi was to be labeled a master teacher, one qualified to expound on Jewish law.  As the Rabbi of rabbis, Jesus could've used lofty linguistics, pretentious prose, and esoteric embellishment to make his point, but he didn't.  The King of kings and the Lord of lords, this Rabbi of rabbis chose the humble elements of our existence to expound on Heavenly truths, the impoverished portent of base things that bore His image.

He used bread and beggars, flowers and fields, birds of the air and fruit on the trees.  He chose these things, not only because they were within his demographic's grasp, but because they would prove to be perennial and pertinent examples throughout the centuries, through to twenty ten and beyond.  The lessons were far-reaching, they had to be, because He didn't just come to reach the twelve, He came to reach you and me. 

 

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

-1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Fast Forward....

Tightly clutched ticket

Bygones bygone and behind

The train rounds the bend...

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 1/15/10

On the move.....

My friend, Dan Denardo of D2 Photography, mentioned something in passing to me the other day...

...The importance of

"Positive Forward Momentum"...

His words gave me pause...I found myself reading and re-reading them, and then following Ann Lamott's rule of thumb -

"Pay attention when your soul leans forward to listen."

Sometimes we are waiting for God to do something BIG in our lives.  We all have a Red Sea that we want God to address.  We cry out to him as the psalmist did in time past,

"How long, Oh Lord?"...

It occurs to me that God might ask us the same question regarding our stagnation...

"How long will you refuse to humble yourselves before me" (Exodus 10:3)..."How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?" (Exodus 16:28)..."How long will you treat me with contempt? How long will you refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among you?" (Numbers 14:11)..."How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?" (Joshua 18:13)..."How long will you mourn?" (1 Samuel 16:1)...

"How long will you waver?" (1 Kings 18:21)

Still we question Him, and still His longsuffering kindness condescends to answer...

...the same answer God gave to Moses as he stood before his Red Sea...

"Why do you cry to Me? 
Tell the children of Israel to GO FORWARD."*

Moses' deference to God's directive precipitated a great rescue, an unprecidented redemption, a deliverance of miraculous magnitude.

Without a doubt there are seasons of stillness...but there are also times, as Paul prescribed in Philippians 3:13, to reach forward to the things which are ahead...

In times of indecision and inertia in my life, my mom use to tell me, "When you don't know what to do, do the next thing, even if the next thing is just walking the dog or doing the dishes."

Positive Forward Momentum

The smallest effort does not escape heaven's attention.

As we take little steps, God gives ground to step on.

As we move forward in faith, God's faithfulness becomes our footing.

"So the children of Israel went forward into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left."
-Exodus 14:22

* Exodus 14:15

Road Map.....

Seek the wisdom

That will untie your knot

Seek the path

That demands your whole being

Leave that which is not, but appears to be

Seek that which is, but is not apparent

 

-Rumi

Overturned Tables.....

                            

"Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers."

-Matthew 21:12-13

I read this passage and my inner pharisee nods in holier-than-thou approval at the unfolding events; perhaps I'm not alone in my affirmation of Christ's actions?

Let's fast forward two thousand years...If this scenario recurred in modernity, replaying in our "temples" of today, be it First Baptist, First Presbyterian, First Church of the Blessed Mother, what have you, would we be as nonchalant with our endorsement of such extreme measures?  Perhaps our heads are still bobbing even as we bring this passage a little closer to home. 

But what if, at the heart of the matter and much more to the point, such a purging took place in us?  My eyes that previously looked on in self-righteous satisfaction, in ambivalent assent, are suddenly averted as this possibility is brought very close to home indeed. 

I find myself squirming a bit as the reminder of 1 Corinthians 6:19 surfaces on the scene:

"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."

What tables in this temple would be upended if the High Priest, Jesus Himself, were so inclined?  Where am I selling out and misrepresenting the heart of Holy God?  How do I rob people of His presence?  What in me sullies his Spirit?

Suddenly the speck in the money changers' eye becomes small as the log in my own looms...

And I see with new eyes - my log not withstanding - the profundity of David's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me."*  I realize that it is an invitation for Jesus to do just that...to drive out the dross that divides my attention and displaces His deity, to dismantle all that distracts others from the message of Messiah, to pinpoint and purge hypocrisy that hampers His healing in my own and others' lives.  To cleanse me from all that clouds our place of precious communion.

My previously pompous posture is deflated to one of deference toward God, who mercifully makes His home in me, and with a humble heart I pray,

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

*Psalm 51:10

So far So good...

Nine days into the New Year and gotta say the water feels fine! 

I have a tendency toward "holding my breath" though, waiting for the "other shoe to drop" (even though the first shoe has yet to take the plunge).  I've whittled away hours waiting for the bottom to fall out of things, probably due to the fact that I've lost a few "bottoms" along the way...

So I've decided in Twenty Ten to Breathe. 

To deeply inhale the beauty that bathes my life,

To exhale in expectation of God's ongoing grace and mercy.

So far so good...

someone out there is CPR certified though, right?

; )

Rising...

Can the past be recaptured

The ancestral Heart long passed reclaimed?

Can the ocean be sailed 

to long ago?

Does the earth which held me

Still hold my place,

Dust though I was

Before long long ago?

Does my soul hold a piece

Of patriarchs gone before,

Of warrior spirits now sleeping?

A fire fed by

Ancient Tenacity

Eternal, Tireless
Persisting

On I sail

toward sunrise,
True Beginning Journey's end
Blessed Benediction
I too

will rise again.

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Invitation to Epiphany

I "de-Christmased" my house this weekend...The task was monumental, but it's done now, not a shred of red or green in sight, quite the catharsis!  It was lovely to have and lovely to let go of. 

It is January, the quintessentially quiet month; this halcyon hush, so welcome after the hub-bub of the holidays, has settled over my home like a big cozy comforter.  The backdrop of Vivaldi has replaced the various Christmas carols that played circuitously on my CD player, the new year has registered temperatures far below freezing for at least part of every day, lending to the lull of the season, and, for the first time in a longggg time, my event calendar is completely empty. 

Ah, sweet serenity.

Such a perfect way to spend the nighttime of the year....at rest.  The stillness afforded us during this nocturn is such a gift, it being conducive to such calm, such centeredness, creating space to seek God, as the Magi did so long ago.

The esoteric feast day of Epiphany celebrated every January sixth by some, bookmarks this event.  It is, in a word, the Divine "olly olly in free", God humbly choosing a form in which He could be found by those searching for Him.  The Great Reveal.   God made man in the Person of Jesus Christ. 

In Isaiah 55:6, we are encouraged to seek God while He may be found. The invitation to the incarnation of Immanuel - to us and through us - does not end with the close of Christmas, but is extended to seekers everywhere still.

As we follow the worn path of Wise Men

May Searching and being Searched for,

become Finding and being Found.

'In the bleak midwinter' -by James Taylor

Picture This...

Two Thousand Ten - or "Twenty Ten" as I'm told we're to call it - is steadied on the easel of January 1st, pristine and poised in it's infancy, waiting to be painted upon.

There it sits, the New Year, the quintessential clean slate, the fresco of our future unfolding before us, a white washed would-be work of art...

And here am I, sitting at my computer, my "canvas", such as it is, hoping to make a meaningful contribution to this microcosmic masterpiece...So far a few scribbles, some rough ideas is all I have to offer, a few loaves and fishes, as it were...But fishes in His hands feed multitudes; loaves broken and blessed become Bread of Life.

So I quietly breathe a prayer, asking God, the fountainhead of our future, to further the completion of this work He's begun, to add His perspective to my paltry beginnings, sparse starts being His specialty.

He makes much of the meager alms we offer, and blesses these tiny brushstrokes, till one day, maybe a year from now, we'll look back and see a canvas full of color, and we'll be three hundred and sixty five days closer to a clearer picture of Christ.

I look forward to collaborating with you all as we join Him in His ongoing Creation. 

Happy New Year, Friends,
"Hindsfeet"

Segues, Seeds, and Seasons

I ran across this post of mine from a few months back and thought my readers wouldn't mind a little re-run, as I thought it so appropos for New Years Day and the transition this time marks.  I truly hope it's meaningful to you again, or maybe for the first time.   Happy New Year, Everyone...

Seasons do eventually change no matter how endless things may feel, whether we desperately want things to stay the same or whether we're waiting with bated breath for something new...It is the nature of things, the way of life, ever evolving...

Sometimes we defy the transition so stubbornly, like a toddler throwing a tantrum when her parents insist on throwing out some favored but now ill-fitting garment, with no understanding that something newer, better, and much more comfortable is in the making and forthcoming. With that same futility and short-sightedness we hold on to bygone seasons with a mental vicegrip even after the season has grown old or stale or has ended all together, but, as my Mom use to say, "it doesn't matter if you wear your galoshes in the Summer, Honey, it isn't gonna make the Spring stay." We need to trust that as much as we loved the garment of the time gone by, however familiar and comfortable it was, there is something better in the making. Something that will fit our evolving life and that will foster further growth.

Of necessity the prior seasons that coddled us and were conducive to our growth must fall away to make possible the new life. But leaving these confines is not always easy, the space that felt so manageable, so secure, like a butterfly's cocoon. The transition, while natural, can be traumatic. It's so easy to feel disillusioned during these segues. We are uprooted from the old, but not quite yet rooted in the new. We are waiting to find our footing and even when we finally do, the new land can feel so foreign and we go through nothing less than culture-shock as we venture forward. New beginnings are rarely wrapped up pretty with a bow on top, but rather tend to be trademarked by screaming babies, shattered seeds, civil wars and the like.

During a devastating time of agonizing uncertainty in author Elisabeth Elliot's life, she recorded an instance where, completely distraught and disoriented, not knowing which way was up, she ran out to her back yard, sunk onto her knees and cried out to God for answers...The answer came...in the form of an acorn.

Her eyes fell on the little seed beneath her and the words that flooded her mind were these...

"When the acorn falls and is buried, all it knows is the falling and the darkness and the dying; it has no idea of the oak tree that's going to come out of it's life. If it did, the death would seem insignificant, and instead of fear there would be joyful abandonment into My plan. Look at the acorn and trust Me."

Perhaps it's time to let go of the crumbling scaffolding of past seasons...allow what has died to be buried, so that new life can come, so that we can see when it comes...

...it will surely come.


Look at the acorn and trust Me.

Sunrise...Sunset.....

"You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance."

-Psalm 65:11

I am sitting here swaddled in my Snuggie, looking like the ghost of Christmas past (minus the creepy hood) attempting to squeeze something meaningful out of my calorically saturated cerebellum.  (I needed a catharsis after all the craziness of the holidays and decided that clearing out my fridge would satisfy said cleansing.  Except that it got cleared out onto my plate and let's just say that I put a pretty decent dent in the world's food supply tonight.)

So although I am feeling less than my usually contemplative self, it is, none-the-less, December 31st, the pause that takes place every New Years Eve, which cannot be rescheduled, despite all the desserts I've downed, and I feel compelled to compose something worthy of this window, this window in which we are supposed to take inventory of our lives to date, the time we're to take a look back, take a look forward, gather our gumption and set our trajectory into Two Thousand Ten!  It is a time of bidding adieu to the past and setting our sites on the year ahead, full of hope, full of vision, full of carby Christmas leftovers, full steam ahead!!! 

The problem being that when it comes to mapping out the future, I do, indeed, "see through a glass darkly", even when I'm not contending with a carb soaked cranium.  My vision is limited (despite the lofty title of my blog) and I find at times that I lack perception to successfully navigate through the next five minutes, much less the immediate future.  At times my inability to work out which end is up consitutes the need for nothing short of semaphore flags, smoke signals, signs in the heavens, something to base my bearings on...

...Enter the Good Shepherd.

(Now for all of you who were expecting me to launch into lengthy repartee about New Years Resolutions, I must disappoint you, as these 'beacons' have their limits and I want to talk about something much more far-reaching, a limitless Light to plot our path by...If you want to read about resolutions, you may do so in many other worthy blogs, or, if you prefer to stay put, in my first post ever, dated September 20th and titled, Another Time Around. Help yourself.)

I have found throughout my life thus far, that God's resolutions are much more reliable than my own.  The promises He makes to me are kept far more faithfully than the promises I make to myself.  The goals He's authored for my life have carried me farther than my own short-sighted ambitions ever would have.  And His Word, not my own, has been the compass that has carried me through days, weeks, months, and years.

So I wish you all a Happy New Year, and, I wish to leave off with this pedestrian prattling and any further conjecture on my part at this point, instead leaving you with the only Words worth navigating by, His own, the only true hope for the future. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

-Proverbs 3:5,6

“All things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."

-Romans 8:28

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you. See? I have carved you on the palm of My hand.”

-Isaiah 49:15,16

“Do not be afraid for I am with you; Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will hold you up with My righteous right hand.”

-Isaiah 41:10

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever."

 -Psalm 23

Puzzle Pieces.....

"...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

~*~*~*~

Rediscovering the Extraordinary in the Ordinary...

For some of us, Christmas seems to culminate in a sort of anti-climax...The day we anticipated has come and gone, the garland and tinsel are taken down, the feast is over, the day is spent, and stillness displaces the sound of celebration.  The flash-in-the-pan of this festival barely lingers in the air and the extraordinary becomes ordinary once again.

But there is something of Jesus to be seen in even this, perhaps especially in this, perhaps more of Him than could be seen in the sensationalism of the season.  As we shed the acoutrements of Christmas, the accompaniment of Advent, as our homes take on a more humble air, an absence of excess, a picture of Emmanuel emerges.

Jesus came to earth taking on the form of a servant, trading kingly attire for carpenter's clothes.  Eshewing royal embellishments, he chose to be born in a barn.  Casting aside clout, he courted companions of questionable origin and remained in anonymity for all but three years of his life.

His pulpits were rocks and roadsides, rowboats and rivers; He preferred the company of commoners to consorting with the creme de la creme; He rejoiced more over one sinner who was restored than over a hundred who never had need of repentence.

This One Who so easily could've been placed on a pedestal, disallowed such positioning and instead maintained an unpretentious posture, choosing conformity to our condition over the comfort of prestige and power.

Perhaps there is more to be seen of our extraordinary Lord in the ordinary, unremarkable, undecorated details of every day life, and thankfully so, because that is what much of life is, and that is where we tend to need Him most.

                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not condsider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." -Philipians 2:5-11

The Christmas Present...

(I decided to re-post this for Christmas...For me, it says it all.)

Merry Merry Christmas, All <3

This curt little query is floating around quite a bit these days...Santa’s generosity depends on your answer, your stocking’s stuffed-ness is riding on your response, the whole of your holiday hangs in the balance between these two lists...

Thankfully, Jesus came to throw a third list into the mix....Not one titled "Naughty" or "Nice",

but one titled,

 "Grace"

God doesn't save us because we are good, He saves us because HE is good.

What an AWESOME Christmas present.

"You have been saved by grace through believing. 

You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God."

Ephesians 2:8

Let there be Light......

http://danieldenardo.blogspot.com/

"For now, we see through a window, dimly, but one day soon, face to face.  For now I know Him in part, but one day soon I shall know Him just as I also am known."

-1 Corinthians 13:12

Merriam-Webster defines color as a property that becomes apparent when light falls on it.  Jesus came that first Christmas to add color to the window through which we view the world.  When Christ illumines our lives, we begin to see our surroundings through a different lens, filtered by our Heavenly Father.  Moreover, we begin to see Him.  As we set aside time to sit, as Mary did, at His feet, and learn of Him (Luke 10:39-42), the lessons of our Lord begin to shape our outlook; as we progressively get to know Him with each passing day, with each abiding experience of His grace, of His discipline, of His forgiveness, of His love, as we allow His light to flood our lives, the hues of His holiness become vibrant, the lines that were blurry become vivid, the image of the incarnation of our Lord comes to life in our life, and gradually, going from glory to glory, we gain the treasure of seeing our Sovereign God, of knowing Him, even as we also are known.

This Christmas, let there be Light.

Just the way you are....

  

My thanks to Billy Joel for bringing such an excellent song into existence, as it is meaningful to me in an offbeat sort of way, probably not the way Mr. Joel intended, but that's how music is, it sort of multiplies itself to the masses; What beauty is to the eye of the beholder, lyrics are to the ear of the listener.

If I had to contain in a canticum what I've come to understand (so far!) of Jesus' heart toward me, this song could fit the bill nicely. 

Everytime I hear it, I imagine Jesus singing the words to me, and the melody becomes big with meaning.  My soul sits back and smiles as I let the words sink in.  Sure, I'm taking some "listener's license", I'm artsy that way, but lean in, take a listen, and see if you hear it too...His hopeful heart, His confidence in His creation (You!), His call to calm in His presence, just because He loves you, just the way you are.....

                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounJsqomcv8

"Just The Way You Are" by Billy Joel

Don't go changing to try and please me

You never let me down before

Don't imagine you're too familiar

And I don't see you anymore

I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble

We never could have come this far

I took the good times, I'll take the bad times

I'll take you just the way you are

Don't go trying some new fashion

Don't change the color of your hair

You always have my unspoken passion

Although I might not seem to care

I don't want clever conversation

I never want to work that hard

I just want someone that I can talk to

I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be

The same old someone that I knew

What will it take till you believe in me

The way that I believe in you.

I said I love you and that's forever

And this I promise from the heart

I could not love you any better

I love you just the way you are.

Tribute to Joy

Just wanted to take some space here to wish my fellow blogger, Joy (http://goodmorningmarysunshine.blogspot.com/), a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hope you all will join me in popping over to her blog and sending her well wishes on this her special day : )  If you don't know her or have never visited her site, it truly is a "joy" in the truest sense of the word, a little oasis and a breath of fresh air every time I visit.

Happy Birthday, Joy, thanks for the beauty you bring into our lives.  You are a gift!

(Eat a piece of birthday cake for me!! ; )  )

My Christmas Tree's Cameo...

Fa la la la la!

: )

Peace...

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

-Isaiah 26:3

This holy hush settles over my soul

Like snowfall blanketing the barren landscape

Till everything is Stillness and Rest

Sacred Silence alone is heard

All is quiet and comforted

Like a child the earth seems to sleep

swaddled in this crystalline coverlet

Pacified

Peaceful

As I am now

Safe and settled

Cocooned in Christ

Till Winter passes

And I fly...

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 12/12/09

Darkest before the Dawn...

http://flyinggeek.blogspot.com/

The Winter Solstice is fast approaching, the longest night of the year - December 21st - just four days before we celebrate the Light of the World.  Our recognition of the most radiant moment in history will presumably be  preceded by deep darkness.

Seems to mirror the four hundred years of famine experienced by God's people between Malachi and Matthew where God's Word was concerned, the silent centuries before Jesus came to the earth and the prophets were once again propelled into action, filled with fire, and ignited with Divine inspiration.

I've been struggling through my own dark night of the soul, and I know the desperation at every turn to know God's Word, to have His light on my path...the tiniest glimmer a reason to rejoice.  I find myself straining to hear, desperate to dispense of anything that drowns out His voice - "laying aside every weight"* as it were - hardly willing to wait four minutes for this mainstay of manna, much less four days...but four hundred years?  I can't even imagine.....

Despite the darkness, I feel Grace's gravitational pull; I find myself returning to things I'd lost sight of...the fundamentals of forgiveness, the merit of mercy, the call to compassion.  And I feel the Potter carving out in me a new capacity for these, the Sculptor chiseling away at my stony heart...transforming this Pharisee into a forgiven, faithful servant, the Prodigal purged from the heart of His cherished child.

Life displacing Death

A painful process, yes, but a "light affliction"* none the less, momentary at that, and nothing He didn't experience Himself*, therefore "we do not lose heart"*.

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" -2 Corinthians 4:8,9

Hope outweighs my heavy heart, buoying my broken spirit.  My faith floats on the surface of the storm and the beacon of His benediction breaks through the black night.

Though for now "I see through a glass darkly"*, I celebrate the One Who saved me and Who will surely shepherd me through the valley of the shadow of death* into His marvelous light, into the dawning of a new day.


*Hebrews 12:1
*2 Corinthians 4:17
*Psalm22:1, Matthew 27:46
*2 Corinthians 4:16
*1 Corinthians 13:12
*Psalm 23

Next!

Is it just me or is it all happening too quickly?  Did the browns and yellows of Thanksgiving blend all too rapidly into the reds and greens of Christmas?  A pot of golden mums graces my front porch still, little just-for-pretty pumpkins adorn my mantel, and my fridge remains full of fat-laden leftovers fit to clog the arteries of even the most dutiful dieters.

And yet it seems it's already time to move on.  I can almost see some cosmic time-teller tapping his watch like a conductor on a train impatiently waiting for his passengers to settle in so that that the engine can be fired up and the next stop reached at bullet speed and post-haste! 

All Abooooard!!

As much as I love all the acoutrements of Christmas, the candlelight in the windows and the fun of decorating a fat little Douglas Fir, am I the only one who's wishing we had a bit of a transition sentence here? 

As I ventured into my "Christmas closet" tonight, sizing up the task at hand, rummaging through wrapping paper, untangling twinkle lights, sorting out santas and organizing ornaments, a plain paper bag presented itself in the middle of all the muddle, patiently awaiting my attention...

...Upon opening the package, a smile worked it's way across my face and setting everything else aside, I carefully removed the pewter figurines folded in little pieces of paper; there were sheep and shepherds, camels and kings, there was a mother and a father, a sturdy little stable, a miniature manger...and lastly, a little one, an infant, a tiny baby boy...

And I realized gazing at the pieces of this picture, a picture of a gift given long ago, that herein was my "transition sentence".

The meaning of it all, not just of Christmas, but of life itself, Jesus, the ultimate Transition Sentence*, between the Old Will and Testament and the New Will and Testament, between death and life, slavery and freedom, between what I once was and who I now am.

I'm cozied up now, ready to catch some zzzzz's shortly (very shortly).  The decorating I was going to do remains undone, save a small nativity scene set carefully along my mantel in place of the just-for-pretty pumpkins...

It's a beginning...in the truest sense of the Word.

*"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1: 1-4, 14

Harvest...

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

Thanksgiving...

"A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of Whom to thank." - Frederick Buechner


We've arrived at that turkeylicious time of year when Americans everywhere will join in gastronomic gaiety and filial festivities revolving around plates piled high with every delicacy our little palates could desire.

There'll be football games and gatherings complete with tryptophan and green bean goo, mashed potatoes and couch potatoes, long naps and leftovers, and finally, drawn out departures full of hugs and good wishes for happiness over the holidays.

Amidst all this merriment there may come a moment when grateful guests will pause to ponder the holiday's namesake and the things in their lives that conjure up thoughts of thankfulness.

When put to it, most of us can come up with several somethings we're appreciative for and perhaps wax on quite lyrical about our loved ones and the merits of our most treasured blessings.

There is, indeed, so much to be thankful for,

ergo, there is Someone to be thankful to.

This Thanksgiving, as our hearts are turned to the gifts with which we've been graced, let us in turn lift our hearts to the Giver of all Grace and every good gift...

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." - James 1:17

Between the Rock and a hard place...

"Bow down your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my Rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me.  For You are my Rock and my fortress..." Psalm 31:1,2

"You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God." -Psalm 40:17

"In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge." -Proverbs 14:26

"I am with you to deliver you" Jeremiah 1:8

"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them ; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you." -Deuteronomy 31:6

"You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance." -Psalm 32:7

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." -Isaiah 43:2

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil' for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." -Psalm 23:4

Two outta Three....

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" -Micah 6:8

Do Justly.

Love Mercy.

Walk Humbly with your God.

The Pharisees had the first part down pat --

Do Justly

Check!  They knew right and wrong like the back of their hands.

Though Doing Justly constituted only one third of the command given in Micah 6:8, they treated it as the be all, end all. 

In one instance among many, Matthew 12:7 to be exact, Jesus calls the Pharisees on their forgetfulness of the three-dimensional aspect of this directive:

Do Justly
Love Mercy

Walk Humbly

Interesting that Loving Mercy and Walking Humbly are underneath Doing Justly, not to make them less than, but to show them foundational to the doing of right and not doing of wrong.

Jesus looked deeper in to the posture of the heart from which their outward deeds proceeded.  In true form He measured what was seen by what was unseen, the bonafide barometer of holiness.

Do Justly is indeed only one third of the instruction here in this verse, yet how often do I stop there, fan out my "filthy rags"* for all to see, and put a big check mark in my "Holy" box?

It's a classic case of putting the proverbial cart before the horse --

I hear above the clamoring of the pharisee in me the still small voice of Jesus calling me to be merciful, indeed to love mercy, and to walk humbly in step with Him, to let all that I do stem from this stance...I feel Christ's gentle correction as his Shepherd's staff prods 'a wretch like me' toward true holiness...and with new eyes I read the ancient words written so long ago, yet relevant as ever...

Do Justly

Love Mercy

Walk Humbly with your God

*Isaiah 64:6

Beautiful Flight......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-pX7sIjFY&feature=related

Compliments of Raymond Briggs and Howard Blake...

(i suggest watching this full screen if you can...)



"...One day I will fly
And maybe then You will take me aside
And show me the bigger picture
But till then I will be here with You
With a heart that is true
And a soul that's resting on your higher ways..."

-Steven Curtis Chapman

shhhhhh......listen......

"...And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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 still small voice..." -1 Kings19:11,12


Fellow blogger and photographer, Dan Denardo of Dan Denardo Photography (http://danieldenardo.blogspot.com/ ), shared with me a concern commented on from his pastor's pulpit: This minister cautioned against lives cluttered with clamor, lives which leave little room for listening, in which God's voice is, for the most part, obfuscated and obscured.

As I write this, even at this late hour, layers of sound surround me...Nat King Cole's "Destination Moon" is bellowing into my cranium compliments of Bose, blocking out the banter of Saturday Night Live, my husband's sensory stimulation of choice...the occasional motorist passes by with their too loud music blaring out into the blackness, and my puppies object with a cacophony of caterwauling till the offender fades into the distance.

It would seem that we've insulated ourselves from quietude, armed ourselves against "awkward" silence as against a formidable foe...

...This presents a problem, silence being the backdrop of the Still Small Voice...and still small voices are dreadfully simple to drown out. 

To make matters more complicated, our Creator does not seem in the least compelled to compete with this chaos, in our lives, in our churches, in our homes...He feels no pressure to conform to our comfort level or to co-habitate with our other gods, but rather bids us "Come" on His terms, and He is perfectly willing to wait while we decide whom we shall serve.*

In Psalm 46:10, the invitation to know God is precipitated by a posture of stillness.
In Psalm 62:1, David's assurance of salvation exudes from a silently waiting soul.
And in an instance of irony, Peter, the verbose and vocally gifted disciple, compares a quiet spirit with an incorruptible ornament, calling it a very precious commodity in God's computations.*

Yet we have all but completely devalued this hallowed hush, this holy of holies in which we hear His voice, this cleft of the rock where we commune with Christ. 

Perhaps it is time to revisit this venue, and in this sacred silence, to hear His voice once again...


shhhhhh.....listen............



*Joshua 24:15
*1 Peter 3:4
*Psalm 4:4

One Thing...

"Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word...One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part..." -Luke 10:39,42

One thing is needed...

One thing...

One...

He didn't say it was "one of the most important things"...

He didn't even say it was "the most important thing"...

He said it was the One Thing that was needed.

Simplifies the agenda a bit, doesn't it?  One little bullet point: 

• Sit at Jesus' feet and hear His Word.

In our frenzied five hundred mile an hour frenetic lives, this One thing is so easily squeezed out by sundry seemingly urgent yet superfluous items and sadly falls so far from the top of the to-do list.  Yet it is THE answer that will quell every query, that will quiet every fear.

When we're really in a pinch, we're often quick to cry out for Him to hear us - and rest assured, He does - but are we "quick to hear"* as well?   Is the posture of our soul like Mary's, one of deference and devotion?  Do we come to Him with a listening heart like a cup ready to be filled or is our heart brimming with the din of demands, of doubts, or perhaps even defiance? 

In either case the call is the same, "Come.", whether to be filled or to pour out our hearts* and have them filled again.

In these verses we hear the heart of Jesus, a call to stillness and surrender, a call to come and be filled, to know as we are known, to hear as we are heard...

One thing is needed...

One thing...

One...

*James 1:19 "Be quick to hear..."
*Psalm 62:8 "Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."

Birthday Cake and Humble Pie

I journaled a few weeks ago in my post, Segues, Seeds, and Seasons, that new beginnings are rarely wrapped up with a bow on top, but rather tend to come in very messy packages indeed, such as "civil wars, screaming babies, and shattered seeds..."...Little did I know how prophetic those casually written words would prove to be...

My birthday was on October 13th, and, I guess there's that five year old in me that still looks forward to birthdays as much as ever and perhaps builds the day up in my mind a bit more than it ought to be built up, demanding it carry much more weight than my thirty seven years have warranted.

The day, or rather, the eve of the day, yes, "Birthday Eve" I suppose we'll call it, began with a crushing disappointment, which I think on a Tuesday in the middle of July would have been merely noted as a minor setback, however, this being "Birthday Eve", it was heralded in with hyperbole, and therefore, yes, it was crushing.

This epic event began a cold war in my house which lasted almost a week, unprecedented division, icy intervals, and embarrasingly unbirthday like behaviour from yours truly...

Had I really made myself and the celebration of myself so important that I had displaced the larger lessons of love and grace, kindness and humility?   Was I so determined that everything should be perfect to the point of making my dearest loved one feel like a pariah when the envisioned utopia did not materialize? 

There was an Infant King long ago who arranged His first birthday in a barn, Whose birthday guests were barnyard animals and Whose seat of honor was a stable, Whose confetti was cow food, straw and hay, Whose special day was heralded by one tiny candle of a star, and it wasn't even attached to a cake.  This is how He chose to enter the world, to celebrate His life and His life to come, in abject anonymity, in hiddeness and humility, without pomp or pretense, His first birthday came and went.

I learned a hard lesson this week, I saw a part of myself I didn't like very much at all, one which I would've loved to wrap up pretty with a bow on top, decorated in excuses and justifications, rationalizations and reason...But, as Hannah Hurnard wrote long ago, "He loves me far too well to leave me in my self-made hell, a Saviour is my Lord"...

He had a different birthday gift altogether in mind for me, a new beginning not wrapped in frilly superfluity, embellished with my shallow expectations, but in stark humility, in terse truth, a gift that would serve me well for a lifetime, instead of merely mesmerizing for a moment...

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "I do not believe that God primarily wants us to be happy; I think what He wants is for us to learn to love and to learn to be loved; I think He wants us to Grow Up."

That's what a birthday is all about afterall, getting older, growing up, a measure of maturity, and to perhaps begin to bear more of a resemblance to the one we were born to...or born again to...

Embracing Lewis' philosophy, it seems happiness - and happy birthdays - will surely follow...

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." - James 1:17

Hallowed be Your Name...

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your Name

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

-Matthew 6:9

...I will be hallowed among the children of Israel...

-Leviticus22:32

...God who is holy shall be hallowed...

-Isaiah 5:16

Hallow - Etymology: Middle English Halowen - To make holy or set apart for holy use. -Merriam-Webster

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts

-Isaiah 6:3

Lifeline......

"Jesus said, 'Come.'  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'  And Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him."  -Matthew 14:29-31

He didn't hover over his helplessness

He didn't wane at his weakness

He didn't make him suffer for his short-sightedness

He didn't allow him to flail in his failure

IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.....

You stepped out of the boat, but your boldness betrayed you, your eyes left His, and Fear seized the opportunity, plunging you into tumultuous terror...

The waves are battering you, your bearings are lost in this sea.  With all of it's breath it is sucking you under, and with your last breath you cry out --

To Whom?  For What? 

Whose strength are you depending on to deliver you?   Who do you rely on when life has you against the ropes?  What are you counting on to come through, to catch you?  A pill?  A person?  A profession?  Who has the resources to rescue you? 

Who, but the One who summons the storm,

Who, but He Who wields the wind and the waves,

Who, but the Saviour

Who not only speaks Stillness to your soul , but to the whole of the tempest tormenting you...

...and it obeys...

Deep inside each one of us, perhaps surfacing these days, there is that primitive part unspoiled by modernity, a homing beacon, a Knowing that overrides our neatly packaged processes and socially acceptable strategems in times of trauma and crisis. 

And out of that core wells up the cry for its Creator,

"LORD, Save me!"

...And IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him...

"Oh fainthearted one, why did you doubt?" -Matthew 29:31

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c0jJt_XKbw&NR=1&feature=fvwp