Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hallowed be Your Name...


Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

-Matthew 6:9

...I will be hallowed among the children of Israel...

-Leviticus22:32

...God who is holy shall be hallowed...

-Isaiah 5:16

Hallow - Etymology: Middle English Halowen - To make holy or set apart for holy use. -Merriam-Webster



Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts
-Isaiah 6:3

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Lifeline......





"Jesus said, 'Come.'  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'  And Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him."  -Matthew 14:29-31

He didn't hover over his helplessness
He didn't wane at his weakness
He didn't make him suffer for his short-sightedness
He didn't allow him to flail in his failure

IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.....


You stepped out of the boat, but your boldness betrayed you, your eyes left His, and Fear seized the opportunity, plunging you into tumultuous terror...

The waves are battering you, your bearings are lost in this sea.  With all of it's breath it is sucking you under, and with your last breath you cry out --

To Whom?  For What? 

Whose strength are you depending on to deliver you?   Who do you rely on when life has you against the ropes?  What are you counting on to come through, to catch you?  A pill?  A person?  A profession?  Who has the resources to rescue you? 

Who, but the One who summons the storm,
Who, but He Who wields the wind and the waves,
Who, but the Saviour
Who not only speaks Stillness to your soul , but to the whole of the tempest tormenting you...

...and it obeys...


Deep inside each one of us, perhaps surfacing these days, there is that primitive part unspoiled by modernity, a homing beacon, a Knowing that overrides our neatly packaged processes and socially acceptable strategems in times of trauma and crisis. 

And out of that core wells up the cry for its Creator,
"LORD, Save me!"

...And IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him...

"Oh fainthearted one, why did you doubt?" -Matthew 29:31

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c0jJt_XKbw&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Borrowed Brushstrokes...


What would you do if you were handed a clean slate, a sort of cosmic Witness Protection Program, a complete do-over, a blank canvas to fill up? 

It occurs to me that this rarely happens in life (unless you actually are in the Witness Protection Program), as life is a work of art and as such it is more of a progressive thing...An elaborate oil painting being created layer by layer....When one layer is dry, the background perhaps, a new layer is started, moving forward into the foreground of the piece...

...layer upon layer upon layer.......

If all goes well, if you've lived the layers of your life with care and color, you end up with something right out of a Bob Ross special...

...But what if all hasn't gone well.....

...What if the background's been badly botched up?  What if you were careless about the colors you chose?  What if this painting's pigment depicts broken bonds, hurting hearts, missteps or downright disasters? 

And so you add to it, another layer, and another layer, to cover and conceal, but it is fast becoming a muddy mess...

What Then?
What Now?

Well,

 What if...

...What if there is a Master Artist.....What if He told you to take a breath, yield to Him your brush, and be still for awhile...

And what if He hid His progress while He worked, leaving you with the unrest of wonder? 

Could you be still?  Could you rest?  Could you yield not only your brush but your will as well?  Could you concede control over the creation that you were making a mess of on your own....Could you trust Him with your treasure? 

What if God allows seasons of stillness, intervals of inertia, till we are quiet and centered and motionless enough to begin moving again?  What if all the while of waiting He is forging a fresh foundation, smoothing our surface, or blending the layers into lovely symmetry so that we have a new perspective to persist from, perhaps with more patience this time, hopefully with humility, and a dose of deference to Someone-Who-Actually-Might-Know-More-Than-I-Do, whose Hand guides our own as we work this canvas into a meaningful composition.

Because when all is said and done, He is more invested than even we are in the finished product of our paths...He oversees the work because ultimately it is His work, WE are His work, His magnum opus, His poema.  We are not alone, we are not left to our own limited palette in this cumulative creation,

and we realize,
at the end of the day,
that we ourselves are the canvas,
His canvas.

As long as we are still tethered to terra, the creation continues, depth and dimension are added to our make up, diminutive details divulged, developing the message of the masterpiece, the legacy of our lives...

The end result on Eternity's easel will evoke either usurped or surrendered control, chaos or beauty, the work of an amateur or the work of The Master...

...And we must ask ourselves what we want displayed,
not only in the Here and Now,
but in the Halls of Heaven....



"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." -Ephesians 2:10

Monday, October 19, 2009

Singular Setback





When I was a child
I thought that
Just as I had
two eyes
two ears
two arms
two legs...

...So also I must have two hearts...

That would've come in handy.

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 10/18/09

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Communion...


Will my broken heart feed many?  Will it satiate sojourning souls?  Will they come and be filled with belonging, with a knowledge that they are not alone?  In their griefs and missteps, their hopes and hopelessness?  Will they be fed here at the table of my poverty and pain, bread born of anguish and adversity, turned to succor for the soul of the Beloved? 

Will my love poured out of this vanquished vessel quench the thirst of thousands?  Burst open like fruit fallen to the ground, the life within, no longer hidden, nourishing passersby?  Will my tears flow like streams into dry deserts longing for Rain? 

Then let it be, and let them come, and let them come and drink and dine, let me be emptied into their souls.  Let their cups overflow with comfort and comradery and let them feast on the fullness of fellowship...Let this shattered seed sprout and spread and yield yet another harvest...

...Let this death become life once again......

John 6:35

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Dawning...



Waiting is over
Wings unfurl and finally fly
Unfettered Freedom

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet" 10/15/09


Monday, October 12, 2009

Wings.....


Butterfly Kisses

Just a few shots I took during a trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens "Butterflies LIVE!"  exhibit. 

Gives you Hope, doesn't it?  All of these creatures emerged from especially dark places, terribly tight spots, pupal prisons of their own making; they were the lowest of low, slow, sluggish, and struggling, sentenced to an earthbound life, a base existence bereft of beauty -or so it seemed.  That life would ever, could ever, be any different was as far from these insects' imaginings (if caterpillars are capable of such considerations) as aviation was from the eighteenth century mind...

...Yet here we see the intended end was indeed, Wings.......



Celtic Collage



Flutterbys and Flowers



Dainty Duo


Rest and Restive



Finding Freedom



and finally, Flutterby Food : )


"Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." -Psalm 126:5

Sunday, October 4, 2009

little things.......

an acorn
a golden ring
rife with profundity these things
a bit of fruit on the tree of life
a grain of sand
a splinter...

a heartbeat
a breath of breeze
miniscule movements like butterfly wings
Autumnal tints of red and gold
a word
a thought
a trickle...

yet trickles turn to torrents
words form worlds...
cumulative creative forces combine
in diminutive divinity
to spark the superlatives we see...

maybe,

in the end,

it really is "the little things"...


- E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"  10/4/09

Friday, October 2, 2009

Consider the Lilies........



"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?...Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these." -Matthew 6:26, 28, 29

But God!  It's not that simple!

Yes, actually, it is.

You see it's our mortgage and this economy and everyone jockeying for so few jobs!

mmhmm?

Well, and, so, you see, things are a bit dicey down here...

I'm right here.

Oh, yeah, I know, that's right...I forgot for a moment...

Why?

Well, I guess because, well, I was distracted, you know, the mortgages and the economy and the jobs...

My Dear, did I tell you to "Consider the economy"?

um, well, no...

Did I direct you to "Consider the ending of employment or the 'dicey-ness' of the day"?

but..............well..............no.

Do you think I need you bending your brain to help Me figure out how to provide for My children?

.......I.....uh.......

My love, my precious one, my Dear heart, I fed and provided for two and a half MILLION of my children as they crossed through a desert much more barren than the one that you're facing now...I sustained them on that journey for FORTY YEARS, drawing water for them in drought, feeding them DAILY with miraculous manna.  Can I not take care of you, in this, YOUR desert hour?

...well, yes...I........yes.....

Their feet did not swell, their shoes did not even wear out...I take care of My own, my Dear...then AND now...YOU are My own...Will I do any less for you than I did for my children in that wilderness so long ago?  However much time passes I do not change.  And the desert, however dry, does not dictate to ME how or if I can provide for My children...I am not servant to the desert, the desert is servant to Me.

And I will indeed cause it to serve My purposes...You will know a richness here that you could not know anywhere else.  There will be little to distract from the comfort of My closeness, nothing to replace My power to provide.  You will gain here what moth and rust cannot destroy, In this parched place you will know Peace, and I will feed you with My faithfulness. 

I am in control, My love, as I always have been, I AM now.  Rest in that, My dear one...Rest your mind tonight...Do not worry, saying "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?"...I know you need all these things, and I already sent the answer, long before you called...I have made a way where there SEEMS to be no way. 

So rest now, my love, I stay awake and keep watch so that you can sleep...

Sleep now, my dear, and have sweet dreams, of beautiful birds and of lovely lilies....

All in My keeping, as you are this night,

Trust Me to keep you, My dear one, My child...

"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." -Isaiah 26:3