I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV
You may remember I asked you to listen for a word to direct your life this year? Mine came in the form of Ephesians 3:17b “being rooted and established in love.” I have been studying out what that means to me. From library books about trees, to tree and root photos I have been collecting for a few years, to online biology resources.
This morning I listened to this devotional and found a way to share it with you. This is published daily with the premise being to lead you into the first 15 minutes of your day by thinking about, praying to, and worshiping God. I hope you are encouraged and blessed by this experience. I was blessed that the Scripture at the end is Ephesians 3 16-19! Just click on the title Live For Love and it will take you to the website. I downloaded the app for daily (or in my case almost daily) use.
I was in a situation the other day where acute and chronic pain were doing a dance. Frenetic tap dancing I would say since I do not truly understand tango – and tango seems to be a love dance. One area calls for attention and then acute throbs. First one recedes and another pops up. Like pinball pain, ding-ding-ding, someone hits the flipper and it catapults pain here there and everywhere. What to do when this occurs? First try to draw close to God as He soothes and even at times relieves the situation. I know from experience that trying to determine how I caused this is a futile waste of time and energy.
Realized I was agonizing over my situation while journaling and had failed to do my pastor’s challenge to FIRST THING every morning write 5 gratitudes. Oops, I entertained flesh over discipline there. So I stopped and began to write the five. Then with compassion admitted I do not feel well. Confessed it is hard to focus on the Lord and “Hard to focus on anything” when I get like this. Asked for guidance.
Turned to Jesus Calling devotional by Sarah Young on my iPad. “I want you to learn a new habit. Try saying “I trust You, Jesus,” in response to whatever happens to you.” It goes on to say I am to view events from the perspective of God’s universal and sovereign control, letting fear lose it’s grip. (See Jesus Calling, January 4).
Then I realized that warfare has been raging here for a couple days. (Why do I not recognize it as soon as it begins?) So I was careful to pray the armor of God and Blood of Jesus over me. I journaled, “The matrix of life spins and unfolds. I am held in Your hands. Centered in You nothing can touch me. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings.”
Show wondrously Your acts of loyal love,
O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
Keep me as the apple of Your eye
hide me in the shadow of Your wings
from the presence of the wicked who destroy me,
those enemies against my life,
they that surround me.
Psalm 17:7-9
Then I turned to a new favorite gift that Dan sent me a few months ago. “Every Moment Holy”, Volume 1, A Liturgy for the Feeling of Infirmities.” Liturgy used with permission.
Art by Ned Bustard, also available for purchase at same site
"We were not made for mortality but for immortality;
our souls are ever in their prime,
and so the faltering of our physical bodies
repeatedly takes us by surprise.
"The aches, the frailties, the injuries, the
impositions of vexing disease and worsening
condition are unwelcome evidences of our
long exile from the Garden.
"Even so, may the inescapable decline
of our bodies here not be wasted.
May it do its tutoring work, inclining
our hearts and souls ever more vigorously
toward Your coming kingdom, O God.
"While we rightly pray for healing and relief
and sometimes receive the respite
of such blessings, give us also patience
for the enduring of whatever hardships
our journeys entail."
Five stanzas remain. You can purchase the entire liturgy for $1.00 from Rabbit Room at https://www.everymomentholy.com/liturgies#free. Scroll down the page to Individual Liturgies for Purchase, Liturgies for Sorrow and Lament. In drop down window “A Liturgy for” select Feelings of Infirmity. Place in cart. Pay one dollar.
How does this help? My attention and focus have now moved from helplessness at my dilemma to looking to Jesus. When the acute jumps for attention this day I can say, “I trust You, Jesus.” I am reminded that Scripture is still true.
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am He, I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:4 NIV
And then this passage seems to respond as my heartfelt prayer.
Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare Your power to the next generation,
Your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have done great things.
Who is like You, God?
Psalm 71:18-19 NIV
And I hear this song of worship that brings me to stillness.
I was hearing parts of this poem and it took me a while to get hold of it. FINALLY rediscovered it and want to share it with you. Wordsworth referred to newborn children, but I think he was short-sighted. I think we are all capable at any age of trailing clouds of glory, especially as we determine to spend more time with the Lord.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
How can we capture what Wordsworth says we lost as we aged?
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed
2 Corinthians 4:5-9 NIV
God made His light shine in our hearts giving us the light of the Knowledge of His glory displayed in the face of Christ. We have this treasure of light in jars of clay. And the cracks in our clay pots is how the light gets out. We shine as Moses shined from being on the mountain if we spend time in God’s presence.
Trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God who is our home. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:29). He is our resting place (Psalm 62:5). He is our source of life. He is the light of life (John 1:4), the bread of life(John 6:48), the living water (John 4:13-14). The source of our being. He is always to have the glory of this light.
What is your plan for spending more time with God? You might be amazed if you take out 30 minutes of TV and spend it seeking Him. List some gratitudes daily. I mean every single day. Pour your heart out by journaling. If your hands hurt as mine often do, then type. If even that is too hard, open a word document and dictate your heart. The programs for dictation have improved greatly and you will not need to do very much correction when you are finished speaking.
My point is “Just do it.” Make a step to advance your own spiritual growth. Others need to see the clouds of glory that you are aware of. In order to have the courage to share, you need to put them in words at some point. Those almost ‘unsayable experiences’ that are yours need to be shared with others for their encouragement and edification.
Let God form your jar of clay in such a way that God’s all surpassing power flows forth from you to others. He will meet you in the process and you will not be disappointed.
One friend challenges me every year with this idea. Ask the Lord to show you His word or idea for you in the coming year.
Last year I heard transform. Besides moving, which in itself was a huge transformation, I have seen myself transform and become more serious about blogging ideas of substance. Hopefully there has been success there?
This is one way to invite the Lord into your life. Are you brave enough to ask Him for His input? Are you willing to wait for His answer? Are you willing to remind yourself throughout the year, say quarterly, asking how you are growing towards the goal?
What will the word be for you this year? What will the word be for me? (Actually it kind of dropped into my mind this morning, so I might have already heard?)
As we turn the page on another year I pray you are looking forward to knowing the Lord and King of heaven better than ever before! He is waiting for your attention and presence with Him. He is always near us.
On the wall near my desk I have a sketch someone made of the Lord throwing back His head in laughter. I believe it was supposed to be in the rain. I also have a tiny photo of senior citizens throwing back their heads in laughter.
Can we join them this year and throw back our heads in laughter? Laughter that the Light of the World has shown in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out .
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
Are you willing to ask for light upon your path this year?
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105
I believe we can all benefit from guidance and direction. I am not thinking of resolutions that will be broken long before February 14th. I mean a guiding word that can help you make good decisions regarding the use of your time and energy, your purpose and intentions.
Give it a try this year. I will pray the Lord will satisfy your hunger and thirst for His presence. Listen and I believe you will not be disappointed. 1 Samuel 3:1-10 tells about Samuel hearing the Lord’s voice. Eli helps him to identify that voice.
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
1 Samuel 3:10
Direction through a word, guiding you closer to living New Testament values, glorifying the Lord Jesus as you go forward. Speak,Lord, for Your servants are listening!
First there was page a day from Oswald Chambers. “How often I find it is the stubborn donkey in me rather than my intelligence that turns aside and sees the angel of the Lord (Numbers 22:23). Lord, increase my spiritual sensitiveness that I may detect your slightest goings and drawings.”
Then my computer scrolling through photos brings me this from our trip to Ireland. I see myself in those lovely eyes.
And I arrive again at the story I wrote about the donkey.
While traveling on the road of God’s will I hit a dip in the road and got jostled off the path. The dip occurred where the Lord asked me to do something, but fearing His will I inwardly said, “No!” I locked my knees, dug in my heels and soon resembled a stubborn donkey that must be pushed, pulled and cajoled to be made to move. Blind to my disobedient nature and still pouting before the holy ways of the Lord I decided if He really loved me we could compromise on another way. I stepped onto the “Treadmill of Debate” a perpetual motion conveyor belt going nowhere but in circles. Fearful and resistant to God’s will I asked “Why?” and presented Him with all of the ‘What-ifs’ and ‘If-onlys.’ I formulated brilliant reasonings for resisting His ways, deluding myself and dropping further and further away from His Light.’
God was more kind to me than Balaam who beat his donkey. (Numbers 22:22-33) God used that same donkey to save Balaam’s life three times. He even made the donkey talk to Balaam! If God can use a donkey, I am no one special.
Until I accepted His will, relinquished my ideas and gave all things over to Him I could not continue the adventure of serving God well. As usual, when I actually arrived at the point of resistance it turned out to be so unlike what I had imagined might occur, that later I wondered why I was so silly and donkey-like not to yield immediately in trust to Him. My efforts to control led onto a futile treadmill going NO where. God’s mercy urges me to let Him direct my course and enjoy His fellowship in the Now Here.
Help me to trust You more Lord. I want to live present to You in the Here and now for in this experience alone is my salvation. As I begin to err, thank-you for taking me off the highway and into Your discipline. You truly are “able to keep me from falling and to present me without blemish before the Presence of Your glory with rejoicing!” (Jude 24)
There are many myths about the birth of Jesus. The internet is glad to tell you about all of them.
No one knows for certain if Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem. It is estimated that they traveled 80 miles. She was well along in her pregnancy. Imagine for one moment that she did ride a donkey. What if that donkey had dug in its heals and refused to go to Bethlehem? Are we more cooperative than a donkey or stubbornly insisting on our own way? How about attitudes towards how to celebrate Christmas, and where, and when, and with whom?
“Draw us God to Your side and show us how to help the world see Your gift of life through Jesus Christ. Soften our hearts to let You lead us in paths of righteousness. Amen.”
Though we are not in the deep throes of winter here, the stream of consciousness brought this poem to the foreground. May it spark something good in you today!
A few disconsolate leaves
blow and tumble over the ice pack
soon to be trammeled to muck
by rainstorm later today
Rest me now, I pray.
Take me to the center-down silence of surrender
Pour Your living water over my soul
Prepare me for resurrection life
today and always
Surrender and rest
have to do with moments,
like leaves blown across ice pack
yielding to the wind and rain
At times it can be helpful just to write down the thoughts that occur in your brain. The morning of December 6 after doing a Tara Brach guided meditation through Insight Timer this was my flow.
Tara Brach Letting life live through you
Smattering rain, splattering rain
Listening is my intention for meditation
Can’t possibly center
Too much to do
Piles of presents unwrapped and waiting
Draw away to surrender
Yield to the moment
This moment, only gift
Right now, right here
What greater gift than presence
Read Macrina writing about shopping carts
This is the place and time
For centering in true life
Living here
As breeze disturbs the curtains
And rain increases to water now present
Smattering has become flowing
Leaves have yielded to gravity and now lie
as drenched, disconsolate leaves
Not yet encased in ice and snow
Lay down your plans Molly Lin
Hear, see, record, make the letters large
That the runner might see and read (HAB 2:2)
Prince of peace here regardless of man made season
Waiting to be invited
Coming with floods of mercy
Kindness and peace washing over and through
My created chaos insubstantial to this
Power of Almighty
I am waiting as manger for Your resting
Inhabit me
Wind increases and I
Bend the knee of my heart
As You envelop me in Your power
Public power source fails
Light goes out, things flicker, then on
You are steady and unmoved
Light of the World
Shine throughout and beyond me
Look through my eyes
Declare Your presence
Touch this world with Sight and Sounds
Of holy life beyond the grind
Of holiday tradition
Man made glamor
Glitz and tinsel
I think I’m hearing music
Realize that is Your Holy Wind
Playing the outdoor chimes
Holding the note to call me back
To Your presence in my midst
Sustained tone like angelic choir
Drawing me, calling me back
To the center down silence
Place of restoration, healing, atoning
Refreshment from Your presence
Molded by Your Holy Hand I wait before You Cupped and ready, cleansed, atoned waiting for Your radiant touch Virtue compelled to enfold Your own the vessel of Your making.
Here am I, stuff of earth yielded for Messiah’s birth be it unto me, O Lord, as in Your word and will.
The Great I AM dwells in my heart there to impart the power courage and propulsion for His dream to be fulfilled.
About my illustration:
When our Savior was born He was placed in a manger where the animals usually fed. The manger might have been a wooden log that was hollowed out to hold the feed and hay. A humble beginning and the place where I await Him. Thus the overall shape below.
But the figure is me. Awaiting the Lord’s coming, His fresh in-filling, His power from on high. My heart is marked with the symbol of the cross: I am His forever. I am placed there as an infant. I am His child. I do not have the answers to anything. Receptively is how I am yielded for His will and ways for me. His power, courage and propulsion to fill me in making His dreams for me come true. May my very life and yours be a gift to Him this Christmas and always.
One Thousand Gifts is a wonderful book. Some of Ann’s teaching videos are now being carried on Right Media. In the afterword of her book Ann wrote:
“My gratitude journal is lying open on its permanent home on the counter, enumerating moments, making a ledger of His love. It is Chesterton who encapsulated the truth of my numbering life: “The greatest of poems is an inventory.” I grin happy in the midst. No, I’ll never stop the counting, never cease transcribing the ballad of the world, the rhyme of His heart. He and I, a couplet. Count one thousand gifts, bless the Holy One one hundred times a day, commune with His presence filling the laundry room, the kitchen, the hospital, the graveyard, the highways and byways and workways and all the blazing starways, His presence filling me.
“This is what is means to fully live.“
I have not made a permanent place on the counter for my gratitude journal. Part of me feels as if, “Oh! but I must!” I did once fill a journal with more that a thousand gifts. And now I have begun again.
Begin right now with me. Lord I thank You for the power of WordPress to reach people all over the globe. Be glorified in this blog I pray.
Lord, I thank You for the sun this morning though is only about 32 outside. I thank You for this lovely candle from Lori that Mara chose for me. Thank You for my new neighbor and friend being home for a few days.
Here is another way the Lord communicates with me.
April 27, 1990 Friday, Milford Jesuit Center Walking along Little Miami river bank. During a retreat I took a prayerful walk. Quieting myself I was walking slowly and trying to just see what the Lord wanted me to see.
The first stone I was led to pick up looked like a bone. I seemed to hear this Transient life is passing away and in time will cease to exist. Transient: passing through or by a place with only a brief stay or sojourn.
Porous stone that represents words – air vibrating through vocal chords Transubstantiates words to stone. Change in another substance. Cannot be recalled once spoken.
A caramel stone that lets light in translucent – light shines or glows through it … admitting and diffusing light. Help me to be translucent with Your light.
Gold glitter in pink stone. The serendipities of life. Life as a serendipitist – one who finds valuable or agreeable things not sought for. Show me Your joys Lord.
Hard brown stone of unforgiveness. Impervious to light, not permitting penetration by light or passage. Incapable of being influenced or affected. Impenetrable – inaccessible to knowledge, reason, sympathy. NOT to be moved by logic or persuasion.
And then I saw one more. A stone that had angles on it. I bent to pick it up and it was actually buried in the soil. As I dug around the stone to unearth it discovered it was very large, like the stone the angel rolled away. Indeed, it represented to me the resurrected Christ who makes all the other stones pure and good and holy. This transient life will be transformed into eternal life with Him. The words transubstantiated into rock that cannot be taken back can be forgiven. The translucent light He shines through my life will one day become the light of heaven, where we do not need sun or moon or stars for light, (REV 21:23-24) The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. The serendipities of life will become everlasting joy (ISA 35:10, 55:11, 60:15 and 61:7). Unforgiveness is changed by forgiveness in Christ. As He has forgiven so should we. (EPH 4:32)
Yes, the large stone, the resurrection of Jesus and His triumph over the grave, death and sin are ours. We must remember and celebrate that! I eventually found a plastic statue of Jesus with His arms raised in victory to put with the large stone.
Several times over the years I have misplaced the small stones. April 19, 2011 I searched the house for the plastic resurrected Jesus and placed it on the mantel with the stone. “I put Him on the mantel once again with the stone the angel rolled away. I need to find the journal where I wrote about the discovery of that stone – at Milford, near the river, and the impact on me as the Lord sent me picking stones one by one, as He used them to teach me. Yes, Lord, I am Yours.”
I keep that large stone as a reminder to me of His amazing work on our behalf. And yes, I keep the plastic statue to remind me His work is ongoing, even in me.
David had 5 stones in his bag as he faced Goliath.
In 1 Samuel 17:40 it says, “Then he {David} took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”
I believe with these six stones {David did not have the benefit of the resurrected Christ} I can conquer challenges in my life, and so can you!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 