Strengthened I Rise

It creeps on you

    this life

        this new world

it creeps until you can't ignore

    the unease

        the out of ordinary

it creeps and obscures

    the way the fog closes in and hides things

        usually seen.

Day by day, moment by moment, 

    we live our lives

    barely seeing the

    toll that is being paid

    somewhere, somehow.

I go to my knees

    depleted

        but knowing that the One True God,

        the one who knows all

        who sees all, 

    knows me

    sees me, 

I listen...

And She says, "Arise, child of mine,

for I give you strength of 

body and heart and soul.

Arise and step into this new day, 

this new moment, 

knowing I am with you, always.

Arise."

Based on Ephesians 3: 14-17

July 29, 2020

Speak the Message

But Balaam replied, "I will speak only the message the Lord puts in my mouth."

   -Numbers 23:12   (NLT)

Oh how I wish my tongue only spoke the Lord's message. My heart longs to do so, but when the words come out, they are often not of the Lord. They are more of me and about me. Sometimes I think the Lord's message is obscured by my focus on the daily reality I live in. Like a dusty window, or the shadows that form even in the light, the Lord's message is cloaked & hidden. 

Paul writes in Romans 7:14-15, "The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don't really understand myself, for I want to do (speak) what is right, but I don't do it." His view is it is the sin living within us that causes us to do wrong. But the cure, the answer, the antidote, is Jesus Christ. The Lord. The same Lord who will put the love in my heart, on my tongue, and who will give me the message I am to speak.

I look through the dust and shadow and difficulty of this day and wish I was on the other side ~ the side of light and love. How do I get there? Perhaps it is as simple as walking through the doorway presented. As simple as taking a breath in silence to listen. As simple as stopping to offer a short prayer or thanksgiving. As simple as taking a deliberate step in a new direction. That of others, not self ~ a step toward love. It is through my faith in Jesus Christ that I can take that step to speak the Lord's message today and all days. 

Thanks be to God.

On the Veranda

On the veranda it is

almost normal ~ forgetting our isolation order

the birds singing their God given songs

the colors of the sky & trees, God created colors

just a gentle breeze Holy Spirit is that you come to visit

I feel an almost irresistible urge to pull out another chair for Jesus, move it away from the fire table, so he will have room for his legs

What are the birds singing I ask

Do you want some water? A glass of wine? Are you hungry? How long can you stay? (this is me ~  martha)

Why did God make the peacocks screech so?

I get no real answers,

but my heart is calmed ~ my anxiety at rest (this is me ~ mary)

He is with us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, martha, mary ~ all are one

Faith to sustain

I used this quote from Bishop Edmond Lee Browning's book A Year of Days with the Book of Common Prayer for the Daily Inspiration on November 16, 2018:

"What we need is a faith that will sustain us when all evidence is to the contrary."

After the recent tragedies in Southern California - more violence/shootings, catastrophic wildfires & the ensuing loss of life and property, and all the other devastating events, it is easy for our faith to waver. To question where God is in the midst of all this. To feel hopeless.

But that is the wrong course. We cannot know the mind of God, nor know the "why" of any events that occur. It is in these times in our lives that we need to remember the goodness of God. And to look for it wherever we can. Always, always, after these terrible events there comes to light the stories of hope. Those people who give of themselves to help others, who risk themselves to save others, the miraculous survival. The media call these "human interest" stories and cover them almost as an afterthought. But they are so much more. They are found in every disaster. They are the best of us. They are the light in the darkness.

We cannot stop suffering in the world. We cannot heal this world. Yet we can be kind to one another, look out for one another, take time to really listen to one another, we can pray for one another. We can hold fast to our faith in a God that gave his own son for us. We can let our faith sustain us.

Bishop Browning closes the meditation with this,

Do we always feel our faith running briskly through our hearts? Maybe not. But like those holy women [the first at the tomb after Jesus had risen], we can keep right on walking and trusting in our God, and God will reward our trust."

Wise words for these times.

Walk with me. Walk in love. Walk in faith. Walk with God.


Note: I haven't written in a long time, letting the Daily Inspiration do all the talking & inspiring (see tab 2018 Daily Inspiration to the right). I'm drawn to write again, to share thoughts about God's presence in our lives and will be writing more regularly here. If you'd like to follow this blog, please sign up on the right. Please visit the God Speaks in the little things Facebook page also - link on the right.