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

~***~
<3>

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

Lost and Found

"For this is God,

Our Guide forever and ever;

He will be our guide

Even to death."

-Psalm 48:14

~***~

For forty years less two
I've wandered these desert sands
Hoping, always hoping,
for Just-Around-the-Corner-Promised-Land

The sepia landscape
blends into barrenness
peppered with promises
 that led me here,
White blazes on a wide path
now no more than mere mirage...
maddening mirage...

...but even here,
my heart holds to You,
"The God who seeks the one"
(as though I were some treasure
and not this mess that I've become)

I take a breath, then take a step
and feel Your steady gaze,
Your steady hands,
Your more-than-words assurance
that what awaits me is worth all the sand

And once again we're on the move
and I begin again the Walk
The desert lays,
defeated,
defied,
as Water gushes from the Rock.

~***~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"  7/22/11

"I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water."

-Isaiah 41:18

Freedom

"You shall know The Truth and the Truth will make you Free."

-John 8:32

~***~

The Truth:

It changes the lens through which we see ourselves and look upon others

It is the grid that filters out fear and fosters faith

It is the answer to the deepest longing emanating from the center of our soul

It lifts our chin and allows our eyes to unflinchingly meet His,

For what we see there, is the Truth that makes us Free:


I am Loved.

Loved like crazy.

Deeply,


Unfailingly,


Tenaciously,


Tenderly...

With Fierce protection and Firy fervor

With unabashed bounty on every side.

He delights in me

Is over the moon about me

and digs me with over-the-top abandon...

He yearns for me when I'm not near

And runs to embrace me when I return,
((before I can even get a word in edge-wise!))

He loves my sleepy-head and my coffee breath which accompany our sacred space

He longs for me,
loves me,
lived for me,
died for me.

That, my friends, is The Truth, 

The Gospel in a nutshell. 

That is Freedom.

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

-Ephesians 3:18-19

~***~

A Little Light

~***~

A Little Light

-by Mikki Brain

In that dark, lonesome place

between a dream dreamed

and a dream realized,

I have left a little light for you

so you will know that someone cares

and believes in your dream.

Just where it becomes the most dark

and difficult to find your way,

there is the light I left for you.

it will light your way through the doubt,

the confusion, and the fears.

It will stay with you all the way

to the realization of your dream.

And when your dream has come true,

please go back to that darkest place

where you have been,

and set the little light there

to give heart to the next trembling soul

that braves the path to its dreams.

~***~

(a poem from a book given to me by my dad)

"Jesus said, 'I am the Light' "

-John 8:12

Crossing

"See the salvation of the Lord...The Lord will fight for you...Go Forward."

-Exodus 14:13-15

~***~

Fears, like Pharoah's army

Following hard on my heels

Former bedfellows bearing down

Beseiging my Exodus

Out of darkness, into Light

Deign to release me from their ravenous reach

Bidding me bow down

and bear their burdens as before

But this Way You made

Where there was no way at all

Was carved for my crossing

Not theirs

With all my will

I refuse

The Pillar of Salt Paralysis

of Looking Back

of buying into the bluff

of caving to these captors

Slavery no longer suits me

The shackles of those shores cannot hold me

I am being fitted for Freedom

and Brand New Day

Beckoning

Just ahead...

...I move forward on dry ground

as behind me an army drowns.

~***~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 6/11/11

Breathe II

~***~

Despite my bracing

against the future,

the falling sky,

and the dropping of the 'other shoe'

I find myself

embraced by Grace

Who tells me,

There is only Now,

the Heavens are holding,

and falling footwear

is rare

and poses very little peril.

~***~

E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 5/29/11

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You"

Isaiah 26:3

Haiku

Dan Denardo Photography

Clouds floating above

Invisibly Suspended

I too, am Upheld

~***~

E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 5/9/11

Breathe....

"Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live."

-Ezekiel 37:5

~***~

Lungs long pressed with the cares of this world

What-ifs and worries weighing in

Fostering fear

Keeping breath at bay

Shackling you in the shallows

My Beautiful buoyant bride reduced to gasping for air...

Let Go, My Dear
I AM here
Let me take it from here...

You Rest, lie down
Let the plates fall for now
Trust me to catch the balls
you tirelessly try to keep in the air...

Return to the ancient ground
of Childlike Faith and Joy and Wonder
of knowing only the Moment you're in
Oblivious to any other...

Take in the Gift of what is Now
Inhale deeply My Goodness
Know, in the end, it was Me all along
Who held together
All of the pieces.

~***~

E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 5/4/11

"Footprints" Revisited....

Dan Denardo Photography

"My precious child, I love you, and I would never leave you; during your times of trial and suffering, where you see only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you."

-excerpt from "Footprints"

~***~

Once again looking back at footprints in the sand...

Hoping they connote being carried in Your Hands

Hoping that my wanderings are being numbered still

Straining to see Your shepherding in my stumblings...

I press on along what I hope is the path

Feeling more and more like a foreigner here

I find myself longing for familiar ground

for the comfort of home

for safe and sound...

But my wings are more willing and will not wait

They are eager and determined still

To fly and find their beautiful Fate

To soar into Your wondrous will...

They lend their courage to my cowardly heart

And bolster my bent-over soul

Till once again I walk in a Way

where there seems to be no way at all...

I lift up my eyes to meet Your gaze

and see dancing there an ancient dare:

To leave all behind and follow You, The original Pioneer,

To let go of "good enough", to not settle for less

Than to follow your Footprints

Into Your Highest and Best...

 ~***~

"So He shepherded them according the the integrity  of His heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands."

-Psalm 78:72

Peace

"Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid.'"

-Matthew 14:27

~***~

Relief, not fear

When Jesus comes near

it is to save

not condemn

It is to steady

And still the storm within...

He is the Way

where there is no way at all

When we're all out of options

When our faith is so small...

"Let there be Light!",

He cries into our night

Displacing Despair

With New Hope for New Life...

He covers our frailty

passes over our sin

gently taking our hand

He bids us begin again...

~***~

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 4/18/11, First Day of Passover

Clean

"Wash me and I will be whiter than snow"

-Psalm 51:7

The Potter saw fit to form our bodies in such a way that they require daily maintenence, regular cleansing, a ritual routine of renewal.

Why, then, do we consider it anomalous that our spirits require the same sort of regime?  When we wash, do we wash once and for all?  When a toddler is bathed, does he feel embarrasment or shame when bathtime rolls around again?  More to the point, would a good parent chide the child for needing such care? 

Of course not, certainly not, and laughably, decidedly, unquestionably not.

Let us settle in our hearts, once and for all, that we have a Loving parent in God.  When the world we are steeped in soils our souls, when weariness overtakes our best intentions and well laid plans, when all we can do is ask Abba to clean us, let us feel Him gently lift us from the grime and from the dust, let us soak in His tenderness and His unrelenting love, let us know that in the end, it is He Who makes us "good", as He did "In the Beginning", so He does in me and you.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God"

-Psalm 51:10

  ~***~

Birth

"The night is far spent; the day is at hand"

-Romans 13:12

***

Dawn displaces darkness

shooing away wintry shadows

nudging me out of my nocturne

and blowing on the smouldering coals

of long dormant dreams

held in abeyance

rousing them to life with the soft breath of the season

bidding them take flight after their long repose...

I pause for just a moment

in this space between spaces

letting my eyes adjust to new light

to new Day...

Then, flooded with freedom, 

feeling the updraft of Your faithfulness

 I take my first step

letting new legs carry me

into come-what-may...

...Lead on, my Lord...

Lead Thou me on...

***

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

-Song of Solomon 8:5

Attention to Detail...

"See how the flowers of the field grow, they do not labor or spin, yet not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these...if this is how God cares for the grass of the field, will He not much more care for you?...So do not worry."

-Matthew 6:28-33

~***~

Our tendency to "toil", to "labor and spin", is tenacious at times and can so easily get the best of us.  When we take our eyes off the little things around us - (my mom calls them "the post-it notes from God") - the things that clearly show God's concern over even the seemingly inconsequetial, the cosmos we see when we "consider the lilies"...when we take our eyes off these things, it can, indeed, send us "laboring" and "spinning", forgetting the Maestro Who meticulously conducts His composition, the compassionate Creator Who directs the minutiae of our lives and tenderly attends to the fine print on every page.

May we come to know the peace of being held in Heaven's hand; may we know the comfort of being cared for by the One Who covers and cradles it all.

~***~

"Christ above you, Christ below you, Christ behind you, Christ before you."

-a Celtic blessing