New

 

+++

 

Genesis beckons

into Journey beyond

what we have known

what we can see...

 

into courage for Crossing

from death into Life

over our Jordans

into all that will be

 

Our souls are laid bare

as the past falls away

we long to be clothed

with dawning of Day

 

Life will not be bested

so brave steps ensue

He gives beauty for ashes

 

All things will be made New

 

+++

 

"The Lord God is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hinds' feet,
and he will make me walk upon mine high places."

-Habakkuk 3:19

 

 

Incarnation

 

"In the beginning was the Word...

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

-John 1:1, 14

 

+++

 

As in the beginning,

The Word still seeks

safe harbor

in hearts that

would become

willing wombs...

 

These hearts of dust

become Heaven's creche,
bearers of Gospel,
Word, again, becomes flesh

+++

Merry Christmas dear ones,
love,
Elizabeth "Hindsfeet"

 

"Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word.'"

-Luke 1:38

lamentation

 

 

+++

 

hearts hang,

battered,

half staff

 

with Jesus

we weep

 

+++

 

"Jesus wept."

-John 11:35

 

while my heart cannot wrap around the grief
of the Sandy Hook tragedy,

my hope is in my very small way to weep with those who weep,

and in so doing,

bear with them their grief

 

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"



Beautiful Fall

 

~***~

 

Live

 

Live this Life

 

We linger but for awhile

But Oh! How lovely the lingering can be

When we allow it to be

 

When we are freed from fearfully grasping

hanging on too long to moments past

clutching tightly to the present

weighed down with angsty wringing of hands

with shoulds and could haves and would haves...

 

Allow Love

Allow Joy

Yes, allow even frivolity

fearless leaps

new beginnings

second chances

 

We linger for such a short while

then we flutter

and fall...

 

Live so that in the falling

there is no longing

no looking back...

only a knowing

that Life was Lived...

 

Live so that when you fall

your fall is not tragic

but a tantalizing display

a dignified denoument

a fearless fluttering

a beautiful fall

 

Live

 

~***~

 

"I came that they might have Life, that they might have abundant Life"

John 10:10



Come...

"Come to Me, all you are are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you Rest."

-Matthew 11:28

 

***

 

Center down, get quiet, calm your mind, still your body

 

Know the Still Small Voice that brought about this Great Big World, and let that lovely paradox wash through your reason.....
and your need for reasons.......

 

Let the peace of His Words resonate within you, till all is peace,
till every frenetic thing in you parellels itself with this plumb line.

 

Let it go now......let it all go......

 

Feel beneath you the Everlasting Arms

 

Feel above you, and all around you, His embrace...

 

Know that you are gathered in, safe now...

 

Know that you are loved beyond what you can imagine,
what you will ever be able to imagine

 

my dear, beloved friend,

 

Come now to the end of your endless searching

Lay it down....lay it all down....

 

Come instead to the place of being Found

 

Come as a child

Come as you are

as the wonderful beloved treasure you are...

He is waiting

He is here

He is Rest

 

Come

 

***

 

"Peace Be Within You"

-Psalm 122:7

Hope...

"yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of all this"

-Ezra 10:2

***

"...in spite of all this..."

in spite of the biggest messes we can make,
in spite of the worst that can happen,
in spite of disappointments and dead-ends,
mistakes and mis-steps,

There Is Hope.

What reassuring, resuscitating, no-matter-what Words

They come on the heels of Israel's utter unfaithfulness, going head to head with God's unflinching faithfulness...guess which one wins.

Hope indeed

How many times have I come to the end of my rope, head hung low, beggar's hands held out, hardly daring to hope for an Ear to hear, for my Savior to save for the seventy times seventh time...yet every time, without fail, underscored by unimaginable mercy, powered by a Love consumed with His beloved, He comes, help comes,

Hope comes

in spite of myself
in spite of it all

thanks be to God
 

***

 

"Why are cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."

-Psalm 42:11

Lilies and Birds....

"Consider the lilies...Consider the birds..."

-Luke 12:24-28

 

***

Lilies and Birds...

...having in common uncommon comeliness

diminutive beauty for beauty's sake

meticulously mixed metaphor

written between lovely lines...

 

...an invitation to total abandon into unseen Hands

painstakingly penned on petaled parchment

inscribed in winged word

 evidence of the Everlasting Arms

underneath, undergirding,

 

harboring, holding...

 

this delicate unfolding

 

of petals, of wings
 

this Becoming, this Being

 

till flight and flowering reach a sacred crescendo
and I flourish in your Hands once again

 

***

 

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  9/28/12

Storm

"...the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary...Jesus went to them, walking on the sea...the disciples cried out for fear...immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, 'Be of good cheer!  I'm here!  Don't be afraid!'...and Peter said, 'Lord!  If it's really you, command me to come to you on the water!'"

-Matthew 14:24-28

 

 

***

When we're in the middle of a storm, our instinctive response is, "I want out!"

When Peter was in the boat, terrified by the turbulence, his cry to Jesus was, "I want out!", even if it meant plunging into the very sea that was at the heart of the stormy seige. 

Talk about "out of the frying pan, into the fire".

At that point, panic had prevailed over practicality....all he knew is, he wanted "out". 

Aren't we sometimes like that?  When we're really in the thick of it, anything can seem preferable to the predicament we're in....all we know is, "we want out!"

It didn't occur to Peter in the middle of his panic, that maybe Jesus was there because He wanted in.

Peter's water-walking heroics was not what Jesus intended when He came to His loved ones' rescue -- though it makes for an interesting story on Sunday mornings -- Jesus allowed Peter to get his escapist escapade out of his system, sustained him through it, and then, between the lines, we can almost hear Jesus asking, "ok, now are you ready to invite me into the boat?"...

The wind did not cease when Peter got out of the boat....the wind ceased when Jesus got into the boat.

Instead of heeding the voice of primal fear which is screaming "I want out!" and plunging ourselves into futher peril, may we have the grace to stop, to wait, to breathe, to heed instead the voice of Jesus saying "I want in"......

He is waiting to take us safely into shore.

 

***

 

"When they got into the boat, the wind ceased."

-Matthew 14:32

Found

 

 

***

 

I find, once again,

 I'm sitting in front of

a blank canvas

 

A little daunting

A little disheartening

 

As I thought i would

more or less

pick up right where I left off

 

But someone shook the etch-a-sketch

while my back was turned

 

So I must begin again

 

to create

 

this time,

 

with the Creator

 

***

 

"Behold, I AM making all things New!"

-Revelations 21:5

Lost

 

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?"

Matthew 18:12

 

***

I wandered,
looking
longing
for Home

I thought I'd find it here
It was here just a moment ago

But someone has stripped the props
Changed the scene
Same stage
Different Play

Sideways

A neon sign hangs over my head
exposing my ugly duckling un-belonging

Just a moment ago I was a swan
How did things go so wrong

And once again I need the One
Who leaves the ninety-nine

To come make right as only He can
To find His child in a strange land

To call my name
To gather me up
To call me Found
To carry me

Home

***

"The Lord is my Shepherd"

Psalm 23:1

 

prayer II

"Trust Him always; pour out your heart to Him;

God is a refuge for us."

-Psalm 62:8

***

I've numbered all your wanderings

I hold all your tears in a jar

I'm here to listen to your heart, my dear one

tell me , my love, how you really are

My Lord, life feels so unwieldy

life and the choices it brings

what happened to my little hindsfeet

what happened to my wings?

I Am your wings, my brave one

You need have no alarm

I Am the Path that bears you up

Underneath are my everlasting arms

But I don't feel so brave, my Love

I don't see what you see

I am so flimsy, frail ,and fickle

How can what you say be?

(Love leans in with the most tender smile

and takes my face in His Hands...)

My Darling, listen close to Me

I see how hard you try

to make sense of all that is at hand

to navigate what feels like shifting sand

Remember the Lilies and the birds?

and all the lessons that you've learned?

yours is not to worry about tomorrow

I Am your Shepherd, all you need to do is follow

I do not trust my feet just now

or my eyes to see

or my ability to hear

each step I take is met with fear

Then trust My Footsteps in the Sand

I carry you, I hold your hand

Trust that you are the apple of My eye

Trust My ears to hear your cry

My dearest love for whom I gave all

Do you really think I'll let you fall?

You are the one who has ravished my heart

You are Solomon's song, life imitating art

Remember you are royalty

Remember who you are!

Now rise, my love, my fair one,

and leave your worries be

It's not so important that you know the way

What matters is that you know Me

***

"You have been upheld by Me from birth, you have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you!  I made you and I will care for you; I will carry you, and will deliver you."

-Isaiah 46:3, 4

prayer.....

"At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come...for you are greatly beloved."

-Daniel 9:23

***

When we need something from God, I mean really need something, what sort of response do we expect from the Most High?  How do we perceive His posture toward us?  Do we see a God "afar off", arms crossed, awaiting our polished prose and practiced petitions for help?  Is the assumption that we must make our case with carefully measured monologues, forty day fasts, lobbying, as it were, for even an audience with our Leige?  Do we feel the need to pound down Heaven's door to be heard? ..........Remember, it is He who stands at our door and knocks........

Here's the deal: We ask, God answers.  The answer may not show up for awhile; we may attribute it's arrival to our dutiful self-deprecating demonstrations, assuming our song and dance finally warranted the Almighty's attention, but the truth is, God sets an answer in motion the moment we ask, sometimes before we ask ("Before they call, I will answer"-Isaiah 65:24).  We have a God who is "ready to save" (Isaiah 38:20), an "In The Beginning" God, a God who answers not based on our "righteous deeds", but based on His mammoth mercies (Daniel 9:18).

So next time you need something, really need something, just ask;

the answer may already be on its way.

***

"Do not fear...for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come..." 

-Daniel 10:12

Homecoming

***

The One Who makes His home in our hearts invites us to make our home in His.  He found His way into our stable so we could find our way into His Kingdom; He lived among men so that we could live among angels; He had nowhere to lay His head so that we'd always have somewhere to lay ours.

Hardly seems a commensurate arrangement.  Under the circumstances one might say Love is blind....

....I say Love saw clearly

....and came anyway.

***

"I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Psalm 23:6

Rich

***

If I'm honest with myself - and with you - I'll admit there are a few things I want:

better health (she said, as she polished off the peanut m&ms)
a sense of Home

perhaps a happily-ever-after or two...

I must admit, however, that the things I do not want for
far outweigh any perceived deficit on my part:

living in a country with an unlimited supply of peanut m&ms

a job that affords me the freedom of flight

a heart deeply loved

a mind mostly at peace

a God who doles out do-overs as though they didn't cost Him a thing...

and this is just to name a few,

(not to mention a dream-come-true or two)

when held up against the things I lack,

I'd say I'm soundly in the black...

.....and counting......and counting....

...and counting......

***

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."

Psalm 23:1

Home

***

I feel I've lost my voice of late....or perhaps it's my hearing of His that's gone......too far from Home to hear when He calls...

...I've wandered...

....longing for His Hearth, longing for that Rest.....longing to lay my head, once again, on His chest.....

Longing for the One who leaves the ninety-nine......bleating out my pleas....I may have lost my hearing, but I know He's not lost His.......

***

"Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you."

-Hebrews 13:5

Come

***

What is it, exactly, in our ancient make-up, that tendency to settle for a single piece of fruit, in lieu of the garden we've been given?  Eve's leftover legacy, passed down to her posterity.

God has so much for us, yet we resign ourselves to basics and bare minimums; begging for crumbs when we've been offered a feast....settling for anxiety, when we're offered still waters, seeking survival though we've been offered abundant life.

I'm not talking about monetary gain, earthly riches, I'm talking about richness of spirit, knowing God, intimacy in the inner courts, versus an existence on the outskirts of our Kingdom.

Knowing God and finding, in the knowing, peace with the unknown.  Lingering long enough with the Lover of our souls, till life's pressing problems fall to the periphery, take their place proportional to the protection of the Overseer of our souls.

We've been offered a priveleged place in Heaven, VIP passes into the very presence of Almighty God; we were not made to grouse around on the outskirts of Grace.

“Come! All who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.  Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance."

-Isaiah 55:1,2

***

One Bright Morning...

***

our primal need for sky

-- juxtaposed against

an earth-bound plodding pilgramage --

compels us to breach our body's boundaries

adjures us to find our wings

to seize those rare moments gravity gives up its rights

and in this twilight hour unfurl Faith and take Flight

These Hindsfeet of mine
now bloodied and scarred
have carried me far

over impossible passes
through depths desolate and dry

I have clung for dear life to the Hand holding me

and beheld, broken-hearted, impassable Red Seas

I've followed in Footsteps down Gethsemane roads

I've learned how to die

It's time, 

finally, 

to Fly...

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  3/21/12

***

"They that wait upon the LORD shall...mount up with wings as eagles"

-Isaiah 40:31

in short...

~*~

At Rest,

At Last.

~*~

"Come to Me, all ye who are weary..."

-Jesus

moving the needle

~***~

The impact we have in this life is measured,

not so much in grandiose gestures,

but in miniscule moments

not primarily by our moving the masses

but by our touching individual lives

It's in the micro more than the macro,

the Minutiae...

Jesus healed with a Word

Humanized "the least of these" with a loving look

Turned entire trajectories in a moment of Grace

Trumped tyrannical tradition with a touch

There's magic in the merest kindness

Seeing one accustomed to being unseen

(--and there's a reason a tiny straw can break a camel's back,

so careful how you dole out your straws--)

Our lives are made up of jots and tittles

more than broad strokes

The legacy we leave

built brick by brick

our journey taken step by step...

Let us tread intentionally

laying lovely ground

leaving in our wake

a Life well Lived

meticulously,

meaningfully,

moment by moment....

~***~

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  2/10/12

We got the poison, He got the remedy...

“...with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love”

-Ephesians 4:2

~***~

There is a sickness of sorts,

a malaise of mind,

sometimes of body,

the cure for which is offered freely,

but can be very difficult to swallow...
even when one is aquainted with the Heart of the Healer:

...It is our (my) very human tendency as very human beings to fixate on others' failings,

instead of focusing on the forgiveness offered for our own.

It is the difference between bitter and sweet waters;

we can be toxic waste or an oasis,

a seat of judgement or a Mercy seat.

We can finger where others are and where we think they should be,

or we can live knowing "but for the grace of God, there go I."

We can live liberated, liberating lives

or we can exist oblivious to our chains forged in contempt for our fellow man.

We can ignore our logs and pick at splinters

we can shift focus from ourselves to the other thief on the cross

we can rejoice in the incremental difference we gleefully perceive

between our brokenness and that of our traveling companions,

that thing that makes our brokenness look just a little less broken...

...or...

We ( I ) can acknowledge, and find freedom in the acknowledgement,

that we are all at the mercy of a merciful God...

all inexplicably esteemed as treasures in His trove,
equal parts  prodigal and prized,
ruffian and royalty...

...We can remember, and relax in the remembering,
that --Thank God -- His economy is different than ours,

His estimation of worth -- our own and that of the one we feel justified in judging -- is based on what He was willing to pay for us.

So the next time we find ourselves doling out damnation,

treating ourselves to the anesthetic, the incomparable intoxicating cocktail of Self-righteousness and Superiority,

May we see on that person the pricetag

placed there by Providence

May we see them as He sees them

as priceless...

as deeply Loved

and in so doing, may we see ourselves clearly,

fearlessly,

as priceless,

as deeply Loved,

and in turn,

be Healed.

"Judge not, lest you be judged."

-Matthew 7:1

~***~

Crossing II

~***~

Emerging from this Womb

This season that has held me

Now fully formed

Recreated

Ready for the Light...

...Tenuous steps...

Trepidation

As I Let Go what I know

And Lean In to a new landscape...

...Face Flooded with the warmth of rising sun

of a new circle

Seemingly just begun...

Nocturne's veiled vigil ends

and tireless, tenacious, determined Day

finds me,

Raised

Radiant

Rebirthed...

...and once again Ready

for Flight...

~***~

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  1/11/12

"For I know the plans I have for you...
plans for hope and a future."
-Jeremiah 29:11

In the Beginning, God....

"In the Beginning, God"

-Genesis 1:1

***

"In the Beginning, God..."

Those four Words,

potent with powerful encouragement
comprising such comfort

as we embark on the year to come...

...Not solitary,

but setting out

with One Who knows the way

Who made the way,

and Who is the Way.

Not only here, now,

at the genesis of our journey,

not only "in the Beginning, God",

But throughout our days and weeks and months ahead, God.

In our Beginnings, God

In our Middles, God

In our Endings, God....

...from cornerstone to capstone,

Alpha to Omega,

Beginning to End...

God

...We can trust Him to carry us through.

Happy New Year, my dear friends,

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  1/1/12

***

"He who began...will also complete"

-Phillipians 1:6

Cameo

~*~

the Peace of pine needles
of yuletide poesy

of savoring simple melodies

about reindeer and good will toward men

of sleigh bells and silent nights...

...the soul soothing familiarity

the tether to tradition

something ongoing

in the face of so much transience

Epiphany displacing the ephemeral...

...if only for a little while.

~*~

e.a.a. "Hindsfeet" 12/12/11

Treasures in the Sand

~ ~ ~

A deceptive Barrenness

Defines this Desert

At first glance

A Wasteland of endless wanderings

Nothing, it seems,

But Miles and Millenia

of a vapid, vacuous Void...

To the untrained eye there is only

the unending monotonous migration

over unwieldy terrain

that takes and taxes

yielding nothing in return...

But Treasure rarely proffers itself willingly

to the Pilgrim,

Eschewing backdrops well-suited to its worth

It chooses instead the hidden places of Paradox

Demanding to be dug for, rather than doled out...

Waiting to be found by those

willing to walk this Way

who have eyes to see

Worth in the Wasteland

Rivers in the Desert

Diamonds in the Dust...

And then to travel on

Having found True Wealth

A Bedouin's Bounty
Themselves Becoming

Treasures in the Sand

~ ~ ~

e.a.a. "Hindsfeet" 12/3/11

"For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas

and of treasures hidden in the sand."

-Deuteronomy 33:19

Thanksgiving

~***~

Despite the heartache

and anguish of endings

faltering footsteps

and wilderness wanderings

the training ground
of unforgiving terrain,

this soul-defying sea of sand

the Day finds me

Still Standing

Stronger

Kinder

Human

and Whole

ever grateful for,

ever undergirded by

this Pathway
Paved with Grace

~***~

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet", Thanksgiving Day 2011

"The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places."
-Habakkuk 3:19

Moments

"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The moments fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."

-Psalm 139:16

~ ~ ~

My friend, Jen, author of Ripplespeak, wrote to me recently, and offhandedly (or perhaps intentionally) mentioned "the Timing Thing"...

...this sparked what few synapses are still firing in my noggin and sent me down this poetic path.....considering what happens, what can happen, in a moment....

Jen, this one's for you, my dear friend...

~ ~ ~

Since before Millenia

our moments were formed

Gift boxes given

to be filled

with our chances

our choices

daring dreams

and

harvested hopes...

...each one a Seed that Becomes...

...Love Given

Love Received

Left turns at Albuquerque,

taken, and not taken...

...Moments filled with

Plenty and Enough,

there for the taking

there for the giving...

Miniscule measures

of our Lives as a whole

the flutter of each

felt far beyond

what we can imagine...

~ ~ ~

e.a.a. "Hindsfeet" 11/20/11

Crossroads

(C)  www.martin-liebermann.de

~*~

And just like that,

the road ends

the road begins

time to move on...

following this Flow

as best I can

clumsily,

capriciously

wending my way

into so much unknown...

Lucy asked of Aslan, "Is He safe?"

the answer came, "no, but He is Good."

there is nothing for me

but to yield to this precarious Goodness

and travel on.

~*~

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet" 10/22/11

"Your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way.  Walk in it.' whenever you turn to the left or the right."
-Isaiah 30:21

Free

~***~

Never knew flight could feel so good

Only in my flying dreams

letting go

letting go

lifting, lighter than air

unencumbered updrafts carry me

cajole me

dare me higher and higher

till tizzied and tantalized by the

wild, weightless, wonderful of it all

I abandon into this avian flow

and wonder...

what was I waiting for?

~***~

-e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  9/24/11

"The woman was given two wings of a great eagle,
 that she might Fly"

-Revelation 12:14

HoBo

+++

Homeward Bound Beggar

At Amazing Grace's Door

Beaten

Bedraggled

Bewildered

Barely hoping for Haven...

So ill equipped am I

naked, exposed

utterly at Your Mercy

My only hope of Home...

Crouching,

Cold wind whips around me

this frozen, fallen form

So small against this life

defenseless,

defeated,

but still, I knock...

A fool's hope to hear

what my ears say they hear--

--not the harsh, begrudging, faltering footfall

of the Master torn from sleep,

but Running

and a pounding Heart

and my name I'd nearly forgotten

being breathlessly called

The Door is not cracked

but Flung Open

And He is upon me,

A Coat-of-Many-Colors

Covering me

Cloaking me

Drowning out my protests of unworthiness

Enfolding me

Engulfing me

Till i am hidden

Till all is Him

and I am ushered in

The Door is shut against the night

which concedes defeat,

once again retreats,

falling away,

felled by triumphant Day

And I am Home.

+++

e.a.a. "Hindsfeet"  9/20/11

"I have loved you with an everlasting love"

Jeremiah 31:3

A Time to Build...

"To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under heaven..."

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

***

The sun rises on this plot of land,

razed,

primed for repurposing

prepped for pouring out...

...cleared for construction...

My heart heaved with each load,

leveled and hauled away

each heavy letting go

each precious, painful parting with the past...

Now here am I

laid bare, bereft

 this all too familiar baseline

of barrenness

of bereavement,

of loss

of letting go...

I long for this land a new normal

exposed now,

raw,

like an open wound...

...Just then The Carpenter comes on the scene

His footsteps fall gently

like dew on tender ground

He turns,

Takes my hands in His

And there I feel the open wounds...

the pain that precipitates healing

hurt hand in hand

with Wholeness

This precious paradox

These heaven-sent scars

The very Hands that are bruised

Begin the work of Rebuilding...

***

"There is a time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to Build."

-Ecclesiastes 3:3

(photography courtesy of Dan Denardo Photography )

Real

~***~

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you..."...

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful...

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

-The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

~***~
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Turning

"Thou, Oh Lord, are the lifter of my head."

Psalm 3:3

~~O~~

Today I let the volcano erupt....

The one I'd been keeping so carefully cooped up

The one active with ancient angst,
engorged with grief,

rumbling with endless rumination,

old sorrows stirring in its bowels,

percolating with the pain of the past,

wounds and regrets

my folly and failures

finally becoming too much for me to hold...

So finally I folded

and out it came

In torrents of hot tears

In a ball on my kitchen floor

Beneath the coffee pot,

also percolating away...

I let fly the lava flood

and felt the ache of endings

Days and months and years of yearning

painfully purged

Released

Let Go...

I lay there enfolded

in Invisible Arms

exposed

utterly spent

emptied....

Then came the still small voice

as the lava cooled

and turned to ash at His feet.....

"Leave that here now, my love,

At the foot of the cross,"

(who knew that the foot of the cross could look so like a linoleum floor)

"Leave the tears, the tumult, the dreams long dead

Leave the loss, Leave the longing

Leave it all in My Hands

where Ashes, by and by, breed Life

where dead bones are Breathed upon

and Live

Time to Turn, my Dear One

and Trust

that by and by

all will be Beauty."

~~O~~

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me...
     ...to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound...
       ...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 

***
     

Mourning to Morning

"Weeping may endure for the night,
but Joy comes in the Morning"
-Psalm 30:5

~~O~~

Sometimes it is up to us to decide how long we will weep
Sometimes the night remains as long as we'll have it's company

Solomon, the wisest man of his time, tells us in Ecclesiastes,
that there is a time to weep

it is even important to weep
to mourn loss
to let grief run its course

that is how we honor the past
and even the pain
that is part of the person we've become
and the tears we shed become a tribute
to that time gone by...

But the burial ground of Time-Gone-By
 is not a place to settle down
it is a place to leave behind;
We were not made to tarry too long among tombstones
We were meant to walk in the Land of the Living

There is a time to turn our back to where the sun set
There is a time to turn and face the Sunrise
and the Brand New Day that it brings...
There is a time to let go of the past,

-- even the precious parts of the past --

so that our hands are free to be filled
so that our hearts can hold new love
so that Morning can come
and Joy can begin again...

~~O~~

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness."
-Psalm 30:11

"Light of a Clear Blue Morning"

Photograph courtesy of Dan Denardo Photography

Out of the ashes...

"Let us Rise and Build."

-Nehemiah 2:18

~~O~~

This requisition was enough to change the course of a country's fate, to swing the momentum and motivate God's people to rebuild what had been burned, to repair what had been broken, and most importantly to move them

Out of despair,

Out of despondency,

Into New Hope

and Possibility...

Our lives are also construction sites,

Always in flux

Sometimes we too go through seasons of demolition--

Perhaps the structure outlived its usefulness,

Or was no longer safe to dwell in...

...But God doesn't leave us among the ruins.

Yes, there is loss,

Yes, there is a time to grieve what was...

But there is also a time to Rise and Build.

And just as Nehemiah did,

for the displaced and disoriented victims of the diaspora,

So Jesus does for us:

He dons a hard hat,

Lifts us up,

out of the ashes of what was,

then turns our face to the new thing that will be.

He fills our heads with vision,

our hands with purpose,

and our hearts with courage;

and with that deceptively simple directive,

He lays the foundation for Brand New Day:

"Let us Rise and Build." 

~~O~~

"Awake, awake!  Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city!  Shake yourself from the dust; Arise!"

-Isaiah 52:1, 2

Photo courtesy of Dan Denardo Photography