every. single. day.

colossians 3:12-15

aftermath

The path is littered today with broken limbs, leaves and swirled dirt. A storm of some power came through. At places, water covers the path. At others, trees lay across it. But for those who know the path, it is still navigable.

return

  Return to Him
He is waiting
Wait for Him
In quiet
Trusting in His grace and mercy

I find it beautiful and full of synchronicity that I turned to a page in my journal this morning with those words written on them. Even more synchronicity when I found these words leading up to them:

He waits for us to return to Him for His mercy and grace. He waits for us. We should wait for Him. In this is our blessing. To quietly, restfully wait and trust in Him. Not to run away, knowing He waits for us. Not to take advantage of His stores of love for us. We should not treat our God like a lover this way. We should rest in His love like we would a human's love. We should trust Him-trust He is enough to not wander and look elsewhere for whatever it is we think we will find that is better.

Return to Him this Lent....this Valentine's Day. Wait for Him in quiet. Trust in His grace and mercy.

connections

Allow me an odd comparison for a moment. First, Phillipians 4:7:

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Second, Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Possess Your Heart:

How I wish you could see the potential, 

the potential of you and me

It's like a book elegantly bound, 

but in a language that you can't read just yet.

(Chorus) 

You gotta spend some time love,

you gotta spend some time with me 

And I know that you'll find love,

I will possess your heart

You gotta spend some time love, 

you gotta spend some time with me 

And I know that you'll find love, 

I will possess your heart 

 There are days when outside your window, 

I see my reflection as I slowly pass 

And I long for this mirrored perspective, 

when we'll be lovers, lovers at last 

(Chorus)

I will possess your heart I will possess your heart 

 You reject my advances and desperate pleas 

I won't let you, let me down so easily, so easily  

I know. I'm weird. But, I just connect things like this sometimes.

I hear in those lyrics words of a God who pursues us and wants us to spend time with Him. I hear words of a God who wants to possess and guard our hearts. It's strange connections like this that deepen my understanding of a love that passes all understanding. 

I challenge you to put on some headphones, lay back, listen to that song, and think about the words as if spoken by God to you. Here's a link to the full eight plus minute album version video* of the song. Just spend some time with Him. 

*After watching the video for the first time just now, I find it to be very appropriate for what I've said here. I love when things work like that. Synchronicity. Sweet synchronicity.

rest

Spend 20 minutes or so listening to some music. Just music without vocals. (I recommend this collection of tunes: Clair de Lune, Adagio for Strings, and The Ash Is In Our Clothes.)

Notice the rests (the pauses in the music where there is pure, unadulterated silence).

Notice how these moments of silence give these pieces beauty and poignancy as much as any note does.

Now consider: where do you have moments of rest in your day? In your life?

living water

Rather than putting my lips to the fresh stream of living water

provided for me anew every day,

quenching my thirst,

reviving all the withered and dead parts of my heart that have grown hard,

I go back to a cistern of water,

collected over time,

from the living God still,

but stagnant,

unmoved with only occasional new pieces of understanding or insight added.

It has powerful knowledge in it

--of passion

and sacrifice,

of a call to serve and love--

but it does not have the life-giving, inspiring HEREness

that a stream running fresh each day,

a fountain bathing you anew,

a quenching water filling you from the inside and flowing over with His fruit,

can give.

This is a NOW relationship.

A living, breathing relationship.

a reflection on Jeremiah 2:13

C is for Cold Caffeine

I love the giant Diet Coke I get from Burger King in the morning. It's no slouch of a large drink like other places. They can't put so much ice in it that you don't get plenty to drink...the cup's just too big for that to happen. The cup is a smooth plastic, which is more pleasing to hold than the styrofoam cup from Chick-Fil-A. That cup is too full of ice and not enough drink, by the way. The cup is firmer, unlike coated paper cups at places like McDonald's and Arby's. More sturdy...won't give when you squeeze it a little harder than you do when you drink it as they hand it to you at the drive through to make sure you don't drop it. Any bigger and you'd feel like you need two hands to hold it. The material transmits temperature so you sense the icy coldness through touch as well as taste, expanding the enjoyment. The soda/syrup mix there is perfect, but I can't explain that as well nor is it as important as that cup. I think the cup is why I keep going back every morning even though they are extremely hit or miss with the cini minis. Those are often undercooked, sometimes overcooked and occasionally not ready at all. I keep going back no matter. It's like the van is on auto pilot. I just cross the highway without thinking each morning. I like...no, love...the routine of it, too. I could leave earlier in the mornings, but don't because they open at 6.
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I wrote that in January near the beginning of my Artist's Way journey. It was the main part of one morning's morning pages. Clearly, I was avoiding writing something else that was on my mind that I wasn't ready to get into. I've thought back to it several times since starting this blog and taking that picture above. Nothing has changed since January about that large Diet Coke. Well, other than the BK is open at 5:30 a.m. now so I don't have to stall leaving the house and I don't drive the van anymore.
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I'm currently on another journey like The Artist's Way. It's through my one of my favorite blogs, chookooloonks, and it's called Path Finder. This opportunity came up right after the Artist's Way retreat with that activity that made my head hurt. (Synchronicity, people.) Since I started on Monday. I've had to start doing morning pages again, I've started having more vivid dreams which I actually wake up remembering, and I've started to think again about what it is I want to do with the rest of the days the Lord allows me to have here.

Watch out.