Simple

+

We serve a Savior Who chose a stable for His birthplace,

A God Who preferred the company of Fisherman to that of Pharisees,

A Lord Who advised the rich young ruler,

not to follow hundreds of laws,

but instead, said simply, "Follow Me."

When offered a thousand rams, ten thousand rivers of oil, even His followers' first born in some twisted attempt to procure His favor,

He gently redirected their well-meaning but misguided efforts with the simple dictum,

Just Do Justly,

And Love Mercy,

And Walk Humbly With Your God.

There is no song and dance necessary to secure your salvation,

No hoops to jump through

that will make Him love you more

Jesus died an agonizing death

to forever join your heart to Heaven's,

He did the hard part

So you could keep it Simple.

+

"My yoke is easy, My burden is light."

-Jesus

Stable

+

God has a thing for stables

The frills seem lost on Him

The fancy-schmancy doesn't seem to float His boat

We have a God

Who digs

Raw and Real

Who would rather be up to His elbows

in the nitty-gritty of our lives,

than to have the wrapped-up-pretty version

we so often offer,

the one that obscures the Gift inside,

the complicated-messy-conundrum He's so crazy about.

He wants your Voice,

not your script

He wants your Heart

not an Excel spread sheet

He wants to confide

without having to cushion and clean it up

He wants to sit in silence

with one who hears anyway

When given the choice

between homogenized and humble

between white-washed and weathered

between the insulation of the inn

and the blood and sweat of the stable,

We have a God Who chooses the Stable,

Every time.

Who makes Himself at home there,

So we can make ourselves at home in Heaven.

+

"For now I have chosen and set apart this house, that my name may be there forever; 

My attention and my concern will be there always."

-2 Chronicles 7:16

Yet

"...Although my house is not so with God, 

Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in ALL things and Secure."

-2 Samuel 23:5

+

Yet

The Game Changing Word

The Difference between

serving The Living God

and any other god

This tiny word

contains the entire gospel,

contains All the Amazing Grace

we will ever need

Our Soundness,

Our Salvation,

Our Second and Forty-Second Chances

are Sealed and Secure,

 we are Covered and Kept,

Not because we so perfectly keep our promises,

But because He Always 

Always,

Always

Keeps His.

+

"...This is All my Salvation,

and all my desire."

-2 Samuel 23:5

Modus Operandi

~~

To Live

So that we Leave

A shadow of a doubt,

A wondering,

If we were,

Indeed,

Their angel

Sent From God

~~

"As He Is, so are we in this world."

-1 John 4:17

Finished?

"It is Finished."

-John 19:30

+

Finished.

Done For.

Down for the Count.

So was Jesus.

Hanging

Helpless

Bloodied and Beaten

The words, "It is Finished" on His lips.

And yet

And Yet,

That agonizing utterance precipitated

The Greatest Beginning

in History.

When we, too, are hanging,

When even that all-important Last Thread has snapped,

When the dreadful feeling fills our hearts,

the one in our terrified bewilderment that we barely dare to utter,

"My God! My God?!  Why have You forsaken me??!"

We may also be,

Paradoxically and Providentially,

At The Beginning.

...and this very paradox, agonizing as it is,

would dictate that when we, too, are Finished

what has been Authored can finally come to pass

In this Divine Economy,

Death sets the stage,

becomes the Doorway,

and is servant to,

Always

and Ever,

The Resurrection.

"Life comes back.  Life Always comes back."

+

"Death is swallowed up, utterly vanquished forever, in victory.  Oh death, where is your victory?  Oh grave, where is your sting?  Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory and makes us Conquerors with and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

-1 Corinthians: 15:55-57

Soak

(Chincoteague Island, Virginia)

~~~

Soaking with You,

in You,

You in me...

Every cell, every synapse

engorged

in this ethereal effusion,

Heart, Mind,

Body, Spirit

Enjoined,

Beautifully,

One

Thus saturated,

Thus enmeshed,

I emerge,

Brimming withYour Being,

Your very Essence...

...Through me

Slake the thirst of thousands,

Let tears be traded

for the Torrent

of Your Presence

Into this desert, wring out the Deluge of You,

once again, drench dust with the Divine,

Quench the deepest place in every parched heart,

Rain out of me,

and Flood

Your Beloved.

~~~

"Passing through the Valley of Weeping, 

they make it a Place of Springs;

The Rain also covers it and fills the pools with blessings."

-Psalm 84:6

Flying Dreams...

~~

The Offering

"The people will come to your light,

and Kings to the brightness of your Rising"

-Isaiah 60:3

~~

Burned

Utterly Consumed

Ashes

Alter empty of All-that-was

The body that held

Life,

Love,

Breath

Fed, Mercifully,

to Flame

Now Spirit, Caught Fire,

Can Burn,

No longer suffocated,

starved of Air,

~~ It Rises ~~

Engulfed in this Gorgeous Fiery Light,

Flesh burns away in a few painful hours,

But Spirit is Fuel for Eternity,

Spent like the Sun,

For The Son

A Lamp

For All who are lost,

Lovely Luminary Shining

For Worlds upon Worlds,

Showing

Weary Warriors,

Languishing Lovers,

and Every Precious Prodigal,

The Way to go Home

~~

"Those who would be Light

Must endure Burning."

-Dr. Viktor Frankl

Out of the Woods.....

"Who is this, coming out of the wilderness,

leaning on her Beloved?"

-Song of Solomon 8:5

~~

Come Out of the Woods now, Beloved..

Just this Way...

You see the Light

begin to Flood your Path

from the Clearing up ahead.....

.....Just Up Ahead......

And you know

And you Realize

Afterall

After All,

That I AM,

Indeed,

The Good Shepherd

~~

...a little slice......

Blue Ridge Sunset from the top of Wintergreen...

...i.e. "Heaven"

Freedom

(Blue Ridge Mountains seen from the top of Wintergreen)

~~

"God gives Wings to those who are not content to ride an ass."

~Rumi

Beloved II .....

"In this union and communion with Him, love is brought to completion and consummation,

because as He is, so are we in this world."

-1 John 4:17

+

Equal parts

Humanity

and Divinity,

We move between the two,

marrying the two,

as He did,

Effortlessly,

Beautifully,

Between 

Groundedness

and Godliness,

A bridge from

Holy Ground

to Holy God,

Jacob's Ladder,

Living,

Lifting others

With Hinds Feet footing

in our own Belovedness

We become the way

to the High Places,

to their place,

as Chosen,

as Cherished,

as the Beloved

+

"He has made my feet like Hinds Feet,

He makes me walk in the High Places"

-Habakkuk 3:19

Lilies and Birds

~~

Blooming

Unfurling

Unfolding

Petals and Wings

Lilies and Birds,

Flowers and Flight...

Finally Found,

Opening,

to Love

and Light

and Lift

Beautiful

Long Awaited

Becoming...

~~

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

-Anais Nin

Quiet

"He will Quiet you in His Love"

-Zephaniah 3:17

~*

Storm Stilled,

We then Still,

and Soothe,

and become Shore

for others...

His Voice

Resonating

through our own

to fellow Travelers

on this restless sea...

We board their boats

as Jesus did,

and with that,

the waves bow down

the wind defers

and we give His incomparable Gift

of Quiet

~*

"And when He got into the boat, the storm ceased"

-Matthew 14:32

Epilogue...

(Pollak Vineyards, Greenwood, Virginia,

taken on 2/16/14)

Three months ago, I posted Hidden, illustrated with the photograph above.  The same post follows here, along with a photograph I took today, three months later, depicting the same vineyard....

Life comes back...Life always comes back...

* * *

...hard to believe they'll bloom,

much less bear fruit again,

this landscape of a thousand crucifixes

looking lifeless

and beaten...

but within each cross

flows the blood of beginnings,

perennial promise

of return...

of resurrection...

beneath the stillness,

this suspended animation,

are stirrings...

The scene which holds for the eye only death

belies unseen Life within...

welling up,

mustering,

and moving in ancient circadian concert 

with all of Creation,

as it readies itself,

for

 The Reveal.

"To everything there is a season, 

a time for every purpose under heaven"

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

* * *

(Pollak Vineyards, Greenwood, Virginia,

taken on 6/3/14)

Life Comes Back...Life Always Comes Back.

See

+

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...

+

"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

+

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.

+

"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

+

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.

+

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

Salvation is of the LORD."

-Jonah 2:6,9

Emergence - a haiku

+

The Kingdom of God

Spilling out, Flooding the earth.....

She's burst her cocoon

+

"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

+

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.

+

"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...

+

....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.

+

"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

~*

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.

~*

-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

+

...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.

+

"Your Gentleness has made me great."

-Psalm 18:35

Rest - Haiku trio

+

Still, I now can feel

God's motion all around me

at Rest in my ark

At Rest, I realize

Noah couldn't steer either

"God is Great, M'Sabu"

Dove and Olive Branch

I smile at my smallness

Storm Spent, Rest in sight...

+

Shore

+

My Beloved,

Hear Me:

I AM Sovereign over the storm

I AM steering the ship,

every circumstance

every "happenstance"

every joy

every sorrow

I AM in control

I do not ask you to walk out on water

I ask you to invite me in to the boat

it was not Peter's heroics that harnessed the gale

but rather My Word,

Peace, Be Still.

I AM the Way

where there seems to be no way

and I AM directing your Path

with a Wisdom you cannot now fathom,

in ways you cannot possibly hope for or ask

I AM the good Shepherd,

I AM your Shepherd

I will not leave you lost

you are Mine,

I AM yours,

I AM with you

I will lead you,

and I will,

without fail, Beloved

bring you back

to Shore

+

"Do not remember the former things,

nor consider the things of old;

Behold I do a New Thing...

I will make the way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert."

-Isaiah 43:18-19

Rise

"Rise up, My love, My fair one...

for behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, 

flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come...

Rise up, My love, My fair one..."

-Song 2:10-13

+

Buoyant hearts

Resilient beyond reason

Bear witness to the Heart that bore them

hearts having borne a backbreaking cross

given up for dead

thought bested...

But slowly, slowly, long shadows are cast

incredulous eyes turn to see,

Gold dispels dark

Sky turning, turning...
and the Word again spoken,

"Let There Be..."

Life stifled and silenced

now has the final say,

now breaks,

is Reborn in the breaking,

Graveclothes give way to Irrepressible Light

Unfettered,

Unbroken,

Unburied,

We Rise

+

"Did I not tell you if you believed,

you would see the Glory of God?"

-John 11:40

safe keeping

for my Maddie

June 11, 2003 - April 18, 2014

+

Given me for safe keeping

Given into this life

too turbulent,

too heavy for her heart

she tethered me to terra

when time and again

 I would've flown

and now she flies

finally free

finally weightless,

boundless,

unburdened

Resurrected 

back into the Heart of God

from whence she came

to keep me

+

Rest well, my Dear one

finally at Peace

finally Home

"...this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you..."

-Don McLean