nature

The embrace of more than time

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When time stops do you feel it?

Is there a moment when everything is okay and the world is right and stands the test of time?

Or do we wait, with hunger, for another moment?

Maybe that’s the beauty.

Maybe the hunger fuels the fire for tomorrow.

I don’t know. I’m just you, reaching into the void, waiting for the voice of God to smile on my weakness.

Maybe clay cries out to potter longing for completion.

But the journey is worth the wait. So I’ll stand in the light, knowing the dawn is brighter.

And I wait because you’ve always met me there.

Nothing becomes something beautiful in your embrace. Sometimes it just takes a minute for me to catch up.

Sing for the Light

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Call me into the deep where you are waiting

I’ve missed the feel of you

My head can hear you and my sensibilities know you but my emotions have fallen out the window.

Who have I become that my emotion is absent?

I was passion now I’m passive and that isn’t enough.

I don’t want to live in a world without feeling

It doesn’t satisfy

Reason is enough in a world of black and white but let’s be real we live in prisms

It isn’t enough for me.

I need the sunshine and the breaking of light over dim

I need to feel it

It’s who I am

And I’m not alone

We need to feel

Emotion carries us through the mundane

A world without feeling is nothing but muted strength struggling to hang on

I want to feel the daybreak

And cry when the light strikes the perfect pose

I’m not alone

I can feel it

So sing with me seekers and cry out for the dawn

It’s coming

Hang on tight

The View from Above

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view 2

What’s the view like from up there? I often marvel at the way you can love us with such depth despite the messes we’ve made. The problem of pain exists only because we seek to blame you for the bad without crediting you for the good. You see us reeling from the consequences of sin. Destruction, pain, sickness, tragedy abounds casting shadow on the weary hearts you seek to save. You call to us with the answer, with comfort, with peace beyond description and we accuse. “How can a God of love allow such tragedy?”

“For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)

squeezecrushed

We look at things so narrowly. All we see are the steep rocks around us and we fear we cannot make it through. We forget that you always clear a path. You never ask us to cross without making a way before us. Yet so often we turn back thinking it’s too hard so you must not be in it. There must be a wider opening that will lead us to the same destination. Still, you’re faithful to scoop us back up and lead us back where we belong. We must look so silly to you sometimes. Yet you love us immensely. You make a safe place for us in the cleft of the rock. You allow us to rest in your presence.

james

I can’t help but remember today how evil men caused our hearts so much sorrow. The problem with pain is that bad things still happen to good people. “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45 NKJV)

I don’t claim to have all the answers but I know this, God is still good even when we aren’t. God is still there even when we can’t see him. God still loves even when hate seems to win. Just as the towers falling couldn’t break the spirit of a people, circumstances cannot change the immutable goodness of God. As we remember this day, let us not forget the one who holds us and looks upon us with abundant love, abounding mercy and infinite greatness. He sees us lovely.

view

What’s the view like from up there? Do you see us looking up? Lend us your smile and wrap us up in your peace today.

sunset

What it means to dive deeper into God’s word

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Substance of Liquid

Blinded

Sight on loan from the maker of reality and I glimpse only a fraction of the picture

The parade of time marching before me and I am subject to the constraints of the sidelines

Thirsty

Deep calls to deep, leaving me wanting more

Spirit river laps gently

Calls me in, downward to the deep well

Subaqueous beauty pouring forth from printed page

the spoken word of the infinite Godhead

I’m allowed to fall into the spring

until I become fully submerged

I am pulled under until I’m drinking the cool liquid deep

into my lungs and I drown in the glory

Under the surface of earth I find life

Streams making glad the river of God

I am undone

Fully consumed in His presence where I can rest tonight

Jaimie's Phone 276

Banyan

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Banyan

 

There’s a grace that digs deep

Core of strength extends lofty to the sky

Outward, stretched, fallen man reaching for a savior

Redeemed and strong his boughs grow

Boldly lifted to heights he never dreamed

He searches for more

Always reaching

Always hoping

Faith finding him ransomed

Free he soars with the heavens

From the heights he reaches down

Lowering his fingers to the earth beneath

Digging in deeper

Delving anxiously to accomplish his task

Expanding his reach, as he bores into areas still covered by turf

Grace that reaches for more

Grace that reaches for others

Grace that overcomes all

Dig deeply in me until nothing remains untouched

Movement

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This morning when I woke up, the outer bands of Isaac were still making their way across Southwest Florida. It was beautiful. We slept peacefully last night to the sound of the rain. School was cancelled so we didn’t have to get up at five AM which was a plus.

I looked out the window and saw strips and gatherings of clouds scattered across the sky moving as if with a mission setting off to find their allies. They are still moving quickly, leaving enough space between them to let small banners of sunlight peek through.

I am praying for those on the other end of the Gulf Coast who may be impacted far more than we were. I pray that Isaac will dissipate completely before ever reaching land.

The thing that keeps striking me this morning though is the movement. When I opened the Bible this morning, the first scripture jumping off the page at me was Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the earth. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

I keep looking out the window at the clouds moving by like an army marching to battle. I can’t help but stare at the canal behind my house where the water is moving faster than ever; drops marching collectively as if to the cadence of a masterful drummer. That’s how His word is. It’s sent forth with a specific purpose into the earth. Every word designed and precisely ordered to accomplish what He pleases.

We are going to be held accountable for our words. Are the words we speak designed to produce life or do we merely speak just for the sake of talking? Are we diligent about loving the lost or are we quick to use our tongues as swords against them?

I pray that my actions, thoughts and words are in cadence with the rhythm coming forth from the throne of God. I pray the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart would be acceptable in His sight. (Psalm 19:14) Perhaps as we move in purpose, it will make way for His light to shine through the shadows.

Even though the rain must fall from time to time, His light is always there enveloping the earth with warmth and abundance. His love invaded the earth to overthrow sin and death that once held us captive. I, for one, desire to follow Him to battle and help to release the prisoners of war still bound and longing to taste freedom. I pray my actions and my words always reflect that.

Our words should be like water to the thirsty soul. Our mouths should be carriers of truth to the parched earth below. We should see life and good fruit from what we say and do.

Isaiah 55 also says that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. I know His ways are so much higher than ours yet I can’t help but desire that His desires would become my desires. I want to think like He does and connect with His heartbeat. I know that so often I am not tuned into His cadence and His voice. I am thankful that He brings the occasional windy, rainy, storm to come along and recapture my attention.

Hurricane Isaac

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Hurricane Isaac 5pm updated track from NOAA website

We’re busy getting ready for Hurricane Isaac. We’re hoping it will be no more than a few thunderstorms (a phenomenon we in south Florida are quite comfortable with) but with each new advisory, we are realizing we should feel the force of a category 1 storm. Naples is officially under a hurricane warning so, as happens every time, panic is spreading around our little corner of the world. Gas stations, grocery stores and Home Depot are thriving. Facebook is blowing up with Isaac information.

I too have gotten the bug. I found myself compelled to turn the TV channel from Food Network to The Weather Channel to watch the latest advisory.

My daugter and nephew are out back keeping guard over the fire pit. We’ve been diligently piling all of our flammable disposables i.e. old furniture, boxes from our move in May, leftover wood from my husbands jobsites. The hope was that when it wasn’t 100 degrees outside we could use these items to make our fire pit into an entertaining winter evening activity. Now we realize what we’ve really created is a large pile of soon to be projectiles. They must go.

I’m taking inventory of what I can cook without electricity in hopes of saving myself a trip to town tonight (It’s not looking good). I’m catching up on laundry  so we’ll have clean clothes to wear with or without power and water. We have flashlights, candles, battery-powered radios and batteries to go with them.

My extended family is trying to decide whose house is safest to ride out the action so we know who gets to stay home and who spends the night here or where. Which makes me think I’ll probably need more food because we’ll probably have company. It’s an adventure after all. Why have an adventure alone?

If only we had time to prepare for all of the catastrophes life throws at us. Then again, maybe we do… We may not get storm warnings and advanced notice for all of life’s happenings, but we do have the ability to prepare for things ahead of time. We start by having our focus on the right things everyday.

If we prepare our hearts, when the storms of life arise all the clutter is already cleared away. The things that can cause damage to our spirits can be taken care of daily so when tragedy comes, we don’t have to break or crumble.  Spiritual preparedness comes first and foremost from the only truly safe refuge of the soul, Jesus Christ.

Here are a few steps we can take to prepare ourselves:

1. Guard your heart: Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”

Philippians 4:7 “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

It’s like putting up hurricane shutters to keep the rubble away.

2. Forgive: Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

When we forgive others it’s like cleaning up our hearts. When we hold onto anger and unforgiveness, we hurt only ourselves. We need to clean it all out so it can’t hurt us any longer. The best part is that we are forgiven as well.

3. Reading the word of God: Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”

By reading the word of God, we are storing up food and water for when we need it. If we hide His word in our heart, we can draw from that foundation when times get tough. We can remember and rely on God’s promises no matter what the circumstances may be.

God has given us all we need to prepare for life’s storms. It’s our job to use those tools to walk through them and come out conquerors.

1 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue”

Good Morning

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The sun is higher in the sky now. The grass is glistening like a crystal blanket covered by the dew brought to sustain it. The birds sing their cheerful melodies. In harmony with one another, they dance across the sky to their own serenade.

The squirrels are always busy. They find their joy in the simplicity of the scurry. They race back and forth awaiting the prize of a morsel nestled somewhere in the dirt like a long sought after treasure…the scurrying pirates of the yard. ARRGH!

The trees barely move at the gentle prodding of the wind.

The wind is apparently exhausted after the storms of the past few days and is taking the morning off. It has carried away with it all of the clouds, leaving the sky a pale shade of vibrant blue with no obstructions left to block its exhibition.

The morning is alive all around me as I sit at my window with my coffee.  All I can do is smile.