Andrew Johnson has a guided meditation on the Insight Timer app entitled “Favourite Place of Relaxation.” I have used it often and usually leads me to a new place with Christ.
This time spent in guided meditation began with a gauzy gray scene, no distinct things to see; then fragrance of a banquet, then full color image of the Lord presiding and directing me to the table.
I remembered the verse “He welcomes me into His banqueting table, His banner over me is love.”
He bid me gather His finest foods, roasted meats, potatoes and onions, grapes, refreshing fruits. All for sharing with His people. All for my nourishment and growth in Spirit. I gathered them into the basket I was carrying.
He loves me. He tells me to return often. To take as much as I can carry. To be at peace knowing how much I am loved. As are you. Rest in that all encompassing love today. Feast with the Lord.
He has brought me to His banquet hall, And His banner over me is love.
Song of Solomon 2:4
The Insight Timer app is free. Click on the link if you want to try this mediation for yourself.
We don’t have to pretend to be fine when we are not. We don’t need to push through and be strong. Gratitude is a soft landing place that requires us to be honest, open, and willing to look at everything we’re facing and not turn away.
Alex Elle
I find that quote really powerful. The tremendous freedom in it! Gratitude “REQUIRES us to be honest, open, and willing to look at everything we’re facing and not turn away.”
A dear friend of many years suffered a fall a couple months ago. She shattered several bones. The pain was tremendous. She was hospitalized, then nursing care, then yet another nursing home/rehab situation. It must have been very hard to look at everything she was facing and not turn away. I know she was relying upon the Lord in this grueling recovery situation. The pain still has not gone, but she is coping. I did not learn about her situation until recently. I would have liked to pray for her especially during the worst of it. I know she prayed for me during the worst part of my life years ago. After that fall, the image of a soft landing place could be comforting.
This diagram was used in several other places, so I used it, too.
A neighbor recently had a bout of falling. Her son thought it was from her back pain and perhaps too many meds. She was taken by life squad to the hospital. In reality it was Addison’s disease with severe dehydration. She was in intensive care for several days. We lifted her in prayer plus her son and husband. She is hom02e now and doing well. I wonder if she knows that gratitude soft landing place?
Is the image a heart or a praying mantis face?
As I draw closer to the Holy One, unhealed things rise to the surface. Lately I have been sorting through some feelings and stumbling blocks that tend to trip me up. I have suffered emotional scarring from several situations with women over my 70+ years. Part of me says, “get over it,” and part of me says “the wounds are still there.” This wounding keeps me from engaging with other women freely. There is always a huge part of me held in reserve. Most of it began in my childhood from my family of origin. Hard to believe those wounds are present so any years later! The LORD knows all my scars and has recently helped me heal another layer. He could not help me if I turned away and refused to face the wounds.
All of this has led me to a place of deeper gratitude. Nothing in our life can be taken for granted. Also, everything can eventually become a source of praise.
“We don’t have to pretend we are fine when we are not. We don’t need to push through and be strong.” I had to ask the LORD for help.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
Help me turn every discomfort to You. Show me the cause and help me give it to You for healing. Whether I am in pain emotionally, physically, or spiritually You know and are able to give me wisdom in each situation. If I must return to a topic 1,000 times I realize You never tire of healing and helping, guiding and growing me into the image of Jesus. I also know You are no respecter of persons; You desire to heal every person. Help us each to yield to You. Amen.
That has been my word or phrase for the year 2023. I have been pursuing what that actually means. This year I have tried to learn more about this concept. I blogged about it last January. https://wordpress.com/post/treasures-in-plain-sight.org/11031
I do not usually read the Bible interpretation called The Message. I came across this and had to find who wrote it. Yep, it is from The Message!
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2 Message
That is it in a nutshell! Guess I need to get out the nut cracker and unpack that?
With God’s help – take your usual life – and place it before God as an offering. Meaning all of your life is given to Him and lived for Him and to Him. An audience of One! I must never think I can do this on my own. I need help and should ask for that help regularly.
Embrace what God does for you. This means I am not taking credit for His work. Remember the gratitude list? All the things in a single day that God does for you and in you. Embrace it all. That can be hard when He does not do the things I want like remove chronic pain and illness. Embracing is ‘the best thing I can do for Him.’ Have you ever asked God how you can please and delight Him? Here is one way!
Do not expect to fit in with the culture around us. As we grow closer and deeper in the Holy One we will NOT fit in with the culture!
FIX YOUR ATTENTION ON GOD. Not easily done, but with practice it does get easier and the more one does it the more one misses it when wandering begins. The Holy One is where I want my attention to remain. It is a kind of super glue for those of us living in the world but not of the world! Fix our attention on the Holy One.
Recognize and respond. I see what You want, Lord and {not I will get to that later} I am on it! The more we love someone the more quickly we will delight to please that one. I recognize what is required of me and I am quick to do it. Not running out before the right time, but willing to fulfill what is being asked in a very timely manner.
The promise is that God will develop well-formed maturity in us. Oh yes, Lord, let it be so! That we will not longer be spiritual babes, infants in Christ.
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NRSVA
That is just full of promises and this I am to do and let glory be given to God and just wow.
Are you willing to give it a try? If we stumble and think that is failure we are wrong. If we stumble and do not accomplish the challenge it just means there is room to grow and like the Benedictines we need to say, “Always we begin again.”
I mentioned I would get back to the shell on my soul collage.
“The nautilus and the ammonite are similar organisms. Both are aquatic molluscs with spiral shells. Ammonites, however, have been extinct since the K-T event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago while the nautilus still roams the seas. There are numerous other differences between the two creatures, most of which are minor.”
Since childhood I have been fascinated by shells. Grandma Rush used to bring them to me from her bus trips to Florida. I likely found some on an eastern seaboard beach with my Dad before age 10. Even the land snails I found along the banks of the stream in Kuhner’s field fascinated me with their shells.
The nautilus creature makes a larger shell as it grows. Then it closes off the old chamber where it lived. Once when we were traveling the east coast we found a nautilus shell that had been cut open in a shop. Bob let me get it. For years it was hanging in my office. It was very fragile and got broken on the edges when not packed soundly for moving. From another vacation I now have a small cut open nautilus in a stained glass piece. In Hot Springs, Arkansas we found an ammonite in a rock shop that had been cut open. Again, Bob said, “Get it!”
Ancient to Arkansas to Ohio
Inner ancient chambers
Why are these special to me? When I was learning about the Center down silence, the nautilus showed me a way to do that. Instead of growing outward, to enter meditation and silence I need to travel from the largest chamber to the smallest, dropping things that hinder my listening to God along the way. Also note, the smaller the chamber, the fewer things it will hold.
During the retreat when I finally was able to come to stillness, a stop, I sensed the Lord saying that I had not been going to that quiet place enough with the Spirit for about 6 weeks or so. That is why I was so tired and drained. It was a gentle enlightenment and I immediately knew the wisdom of the statement. I forgot to drink from the Living Water, daily. I failed to enter the center down silence. Before retreat I was so hungry for silence. No wonder! I had not been there consistently for a long time. Yes I checked off boxes, did devotional readings, even read Scripture and Christian books. But no concentrated peeling away of distracting layers and just listening.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:1,4,6 NIV
How could I skip going to the Living Water God offers me? The Word says the heart is deceitful above all else! I am so easily deluded. Help me, Jesus my Redeemer, to rest in Your holy place daily.
Much more important than showing you the photos is to ask you to try entering that center down silence for yourselves. Even Monica Brown understands! Look at the CD cover of hers I found in my favorite colors!
Will you try this for 21 days? Just listening for that still, small voice. It makes all the difference in the world! Give yourself to listening. Quiet your thoughts and heart. Sit still. Be quiet.
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
During retreat at sunset I went to my car to get a printed notebook of Treasures in Plain Sight to share with Sister Maureen. You sort of have to read some of my postings if you want to get to know me. Walking back to my room 7:12 PM on 23-6-5 I heard the Lord say,
"I want you to sit
Enjoy the breeze
LISTEN to your own writing."
There is a huge patio with picnic tables near the parking lot. It is covered with a roof held by ropes and poles. I had earlier seen a sister who seems to be confined to a motorized wheelchair. She is younger than me. I saw her sitting on the patio enjoying the evening breeze. The patio overlooked a part of the grounds where the trees open and a small meadow is seen.
I told her, “Look at you! You take your chair wherever you go! I had to walk out here and there is not even a back on these picnic benches!” She rewarded me with a huge, lovely smile.
Sister went back in the building when an alarm rang on her wrist. I wondered if she had been waiting to see deer? There was a lovely meadow in the distance with an opening in the trees. Sure enough, at 7:27 two large deer came out from between the trees and began to graze in the meadow. I made note of the time to give to her. (I saw her in the cafeteria at lunch the next day and slipped her the note. She cheerfully thanked me with a BIG smile.)
I sat in the evening breeze and began paging through the notebook with writings I had posted a year ago. It was fun to visit memories and see His hand at work in my life. When I had finished I heard,
“Blog or not
writing IS part of your calling."
You see, during this retreat I was asking what the Lord would have me do in the future. I was exhausted in so many ways. If I was told to stop X-Y-and-Z, believe me, I was willing to obey. I had made a retreat here last autumn. The program was Soul Collage. Participants choose magazine pictures to illustrate their theme or train of thought. I brought my most meaningful collage with me to ponder during the retreat. I prayed repeatedly asking the Lord to direct my ways. The focus of this collage is writing.
When I write I bow my heart to the Lord similar to the nun in the white habit, praying that I can find the words to explain my experiences and bring God glory. One thing that has always fascinated me is the sound the waves make as they recede from the beach back onto the ocean floor. “Susurrus”is the word that describes a murmuring stream. Wonder what describes that sizzling water going through sand sound? Those are the things that keep me writing! The bookshelf tells the story of me researching my writing. The keyboard, my obvious method. The clock reminds me that I am to walk Lucky at about eleven every morning. I have a time limit to my writing session! And the fossilized nautilus. That became a centerpiece for my retreat. More later on that.
Returning to the building I found a book I had never seen before. The author is Edward Hays. It is entitled “The Ladder.” What an eye opener! and soul unfolder! I spent much of the evening reading the first 20 or so pages.
The following song describes what was going on for me. Lyrics show on the video.
You might have noticed I was not finished writing about our trip to Hawaii when I left on the 6 day retreat. Now I find myself seeing a Hawaii photo and wanting to tell you about it. Then coming across a retreat experience and wanting to expound on that. So, in short, for the next week or so I will be mixing up my themes.
My husband would tell you I have always been slightly mixed up. I tease him he is not hysterical, he is historical!
When images like this come up, what else am I to do?
His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him …. such a sacred heartGod used splatter paint method on orchids in the foreground!
And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.“
Sometimes when I was growing up I got to go to sunrise service on Easter morning. I think my favorite one was held at French Park in Cincinnati. The weather was often chilly and even at times rainy, but we were determined to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord as the sun came up!
My mother worked for many years at a flower shop in Norwood, Ohio. One year she brought home some purple hyacinths and plucked each flower off, wrapped it in wet cotton, wired and taped it. Then she assembled them as an Easter corsage for me. To this day the fragrance of purple hyacinths remind me of her. Though she lived a troubled life I believe her faith in Christ took her to be with Him when her life on earth ended.
None of these things help my soul celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as much as my gratitude lists. When Ann Voskamp wrote One Thousand Gifts I wonder if she knew how the practice would revolutionize the American Christian church? Certainly it changed her life, but do we ever truly know the impact our writing will have upon others? I wonder.
Have you practiced writing down the gifts in your life that Christ Jesus has bestowed upon you? Have you given Him thanks this Easter? Here are some of my thanksgivings.
Sunshine
Rain in due season
Salvation for my soul
You give strength to hearts that are true to You
Your righteous shall live by faith
our home
the longevity of my marriage
Justice that rolls down and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream
God with us
You know the hairs upon our heads
The Convent of the Transfiguration
my sisters in Journey Together in Stitches
crochet and knit group at senior center
Your Spirit that gives me life
Your breath in our lives
My children
My grandchildren
Laundry now on first floor
small gardens to delight my soul
the bluebirds at the office window
rabbits in Angela’s yard
THE BEAGLE
Grogu to make me smile
Noodle the Corgi that makes me smile
music
music memories from over the years
The Holy Spirit speaking in my soul
My Bible and Bible Gateway tool
Rheude’s small group
Lucky learning to play with her toys
Cooking
Great Smoky Mountains and spring wildflowers there
Medical care
freedom of religion
clouds
spring peepers
gifts
dark chocolate
coconut!
travels we have done
travel planned to Hawaii
blogging friends
New Mexico friends
Neighbors who are friends
running water in our home
crocheting
sewing for our home and others
museums of art
Cincinnati Nature Center
red winged blackbirds
butterflies
armor of God
Abraham’s example of faith and obedience
Andrew Peterson’s music
Learning to be a living sacrifice
loving husband
forgiveness
the Great I am
firemen
police officers
electronic books from the library
my sister
pinwheels
soap bubbles
even to old age He will keep me
black licorice
Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead LIVES in us
I can entrust my soul to my faithful creator
iPad with keyboard
ear buds for listening while walking the dog
Living Water
Seashells
heating pad
ocean sounds
He walks with me and talks with me
rainbow in the sky reminds me of rainbow around the throne
the Psalms
friends serving in Nepal
New Covenant in my mind and on my heart
Jesus is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption
“Pajama church” when you can’t make it to service
His still small voice
Bob’s sense of humor
a good fresh salad
piano music
people I know I can ask to pray – knowing they will do it
cellos
live drama performances
good ham salad
music by Brandon Lake
writing poetry
Mizithra cheese sauce on angel hair spaghetti
broccoli slaw, just yum
Spirit of God helps me write
That is my partial list. How about you? Get a little notebook and begin to list your praises and things you are grateful for! It will work wonders for you 🙂
Sometimes the pain of fibromyalgia is compared to having the flu. If you have had the foggy brain, aches and pains, etc. of flu you might know what fibro is like. First, you have to remember what all of that felt like. The thing with pain is we often forget what it felt like. Fibromyalgia does not let you forget. It rears its ugly head and exerts its dark power regularly – even daily.
There have been a few nights lately when I have gotten to sleep and then woke up about 15 minutes later. I think the waking is usually caused by physical discomfort. One night I finally got my tablet and made a few notes about it. This is not meant o draw pity or fear or aversion. Just the truth about what it is like at times to be me.
It is as if every place I have ever injured on my body has gained a voice of complaint, discomfort and unceasing pain. Trying to get to sleep is the hardest task. Right shoulder, right knee, right plantar fasciitis, turn over and left lower back has an acerbic diatribe to throw in. Spasm in thumb joint, afternoon fatigue, the list goes on to include headaches, jaw pain, stiffness trying to stand- stiffness that makes me realize I am no longer a young woman. Aging is advancing so rapidly that I am absolutely stunned, dumbfounded, flummoxed.
If those are temporarily quieted there is a painful lump on index finger second joint that has a voice like a high pitched child who has learned to scream. Heaven help me. And then I am reminded what Paul wrote in Romans.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:16-18
With streams of remembrance my mind goes to my youth. I have always been nineteen in my mind. That is no longer so. I do not mourn the changes though perhaps it might do me good. I am not nineteen. I am not ninety-one. I am simply Molly Lin, disciple of Christ Jesus, finding her way through aging.
The thought occurs that perhaps this is spiritual warfare. Lord Jesus, King of angel armies, show me how to push back this darkness. And if it is not warfare, then show me how to move into acceptance with grace and mercy towards myself.
Such a difficult task, but one I must take up or slip into weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!
The sufferings – I share in mean I will also share in His glory. Theses sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. Oh Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. If there be any wicked way in me, lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:24)
I have been reading the above book at the suggestion of the Rabbit Room. If you have not heard of the Rabbit Room here is a little introduction.
The Rabbit Room was conceived as an experiment in creative community.
After author/singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson’s first visit to the Oxford home of C. S. Lewis, he returned to Nashville with a conviction that community nourishes good and lasting work. The Rabbit Room, the name of the back room of the pub where the Oxford Inklings (including Lewis, Tolkien, and Charles Williams) shared their stories, began as a simple blog of contributing authors, songwriters, artists, and pastors. Over the years, with the help of Andrew’s brother A. S. “Pete” Peterson, his manager Christie Bragg, a growing staff, and encouragement from the loyal Rabbit Room contributors and readers, the Rabbit Room has grown to include podcasts, a thriving music and book store, Rabbit Room Press, a yearly conference called Hutchmoot, regular events like the Local Show, and a physical home in a 150-year-old farmhouse called North Wind Manor.
The site goes on to say the book is ‘not an ideal portrayal of the Christian community’, yet it is a rather accurate and compelling portrayal of human community. I admit since I began reading it I have trouble putting it down when I should be going to sleep! I checked it out in eBook format from my local library.
One quote I copied last night read:
“I was going along, not listening but just hearing, not looking but just seeing, not thinking anymore of where I was trying to go or even of how I was going to find something to eat, just setting one foot in front of the other.”
Jayber Crow
I have often written about the form of meditative prayer described above, meditative walking prayer. Just look. Don’t think. Just listen. Don’t interpret.
This morning I found myself delighted as I was yesterday during my prayer and reading time by the sliver of moon out the window next to my prayer chair. It caused me to write the verse below.
As I type this I can almost hear my husband saying, “Move it along, Molly. What are you trying to say?” I asked the Lord what He would have me write about and post for today. And this is what came together. I want to show you that waiting and listening, watching and observing can lead to prayer and inspiration that you did not plan. This morning I also listened again to part of the John Eldredge One Minute Pause.
The point I heard was that the love of God is something we are to experience more than explain. We are to experience the love of God though it is too great to understand fully. Experience that love.
Are you content to sit with God, love Jesus, use words to express your heart through the Holy Spirit and know that all of that pleases God? Will you use minutes of your life every day to listen for the voice of the Holy speaking to or about you? The Trinity is not interested in what we can do for the Kingdom as much as our relationship to the Trinity Community. Just as the veil of the temple was torn in two when Jesus was on the cross (Matthew 27:50-51), the Kingdom of Heaven has been opened to us by His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Remember when you had to interpret poetry in English class? Some of you hated that. There were times when I too just wanted to enjoy the poem. Below is my interpretation of what was moving in my soul this morning.
we reflect the light of Christ entering the Kingdom we shall see clearly, until then with the veil of clouds we see dimly the wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit I do not always see Christ at work yet the Trinity is always moving in and through our lives.
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4: 6 TLB
No there is nothing between us and God. However we do not “see” clearly yet. We do not always interpret correctly what we do see. By staying in community with the Trinity and having fellowship with believers we are more likely to experience the love of God. Experiential knowledge is something no one can take away from you.
Wow! Another New Year. How long will it take you to remember it is ’23 now? Have you been thinking about resolutions? We usually form a New Year’s resolution from our flesh and our mind. Statistics show that more often than not the resolution is in the dust before February. So I challenge you to set not a resolution, but one word for the entire year. Have you ever prayed and tried to listen for what the Lord would have you focus upon for the coming year?
I have done this for several years and have found it inspiring, challenging and uplifting. Even when I fail to reach for the goal of the word, if I chose it from the Word of God, He helps me and sustains me in my efforts. I may fail one week and totally grasp it the next. The goal is to consistently reach for it.
So take a few minutes. Sit quietly asking the Holy Spirit what He would have you set as your word of the year. If you do not hear a particular word, keep trying, maybe even for several weeks. Pay attention to Scriptures that come your way. Do you perceive a theme?
I have been reading the book of Mark. In chapter 13 Jesus is speaking about the end of time as we know it. He says only the Father knows when that will occur.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Mark 13: 32-37 NIV
Even the poet Rumi wrote, “Stay awake. Don’t go back to bed.” Watch. Be alert. NASB says, “Be on the alert.” The Message, “Stay at your post. Keep watch.”
What is the Lord saying to you about 2023? Are you awake, alert, listening, watching? Or have you dozed off to sleep content to just be comfortable, like most Americans want to be? Comfort seems to be our biggest idol these days.
Maybe your word will make you uncomfortable. Perhaps moving out of your comfort zone will bring you new life! Try it for 2023.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 