Wednesday, June 15, 2011

faith to believe and strength to obey

God calls us to believe. God calls us to obey.

Faith to believe that He can heal, He can deliver, He can restore, He can forgive.
Faith to believe He will heal, He will deliver, He will restore, He will forgive.

Faith that says I will follow, though I do not see.
Faith that says I will go, though I do not know where.
Faith that says I will do, even when I don't understand.

Strength to obey. Obey when the directions don't make sense, when the idea seems ludicrous, when the concept seems foreign, when the path is debris filled.

Strength to obey when it would be social suicide, leadership dangerous, risk-filled.
Strength to obey when it is darkest night, loudest chaos, and most painful.
Strength to obey when weakness abounds, and weariness prevails.

God calls us to believe and obey.

Monday, June 6, 2011

in a garden

all the good stuff happens in the garden; the most poignant, most dramatic, most beautiful moments happen in a garden. Love, betrayal, healing...

consider creation of humanity; it occurred in the garden of Eden. Man was created; chiseled and muscular, handsome features, full of life and strength, with mission and purpose, Adam began. And then woman; Eve, soft and supple, beautiful, with long flowing hair, sparkling eyes, and lips that begged to be kissed. Love was made in a garden.

consider Solomon's passion for love, his description of his lover likened to a garden. A place of delight, of joy...." my lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies." Song of Songs 6:2.

consider Jesus' most human of moments, prostrate in prayer, anguishing that the bitter cup of crucification would be taken from him, was in the garden of Gethsemane, a place he knew well, a place of prayer. A garden, cool and still in the thick of night, shrouded in darkness, this was the place Jesus visited. And with a kiss, Jesus was betrayed in the garden, and led to death on the cross.

consider the new heaven and the new earth; a place where a "on each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding it's fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." Rev. 22: 2


Thursday, June 2, 2011

there was a moment when I sat at the door of my 18 month old son's bedroom, watching, protecting, policing him. He was transitioning from sleeping in a crib into a big boy bed and he didn't like it at all. A nightly battle of wills began, where I'd tuck him in, pray, and then turn out the light, only to hear his bare feet padding across the room. I'd trudge back into his room, urging him back into bed, scolding and reminding him of his new bed. This would repeat until I'd sit at the door, on the floor, in the hallway, staring him down. Night after night, until finally, he'd connect that his new bed truly was his big boy bed, connect that I was truly serious about his requirement to sleep in the new big boy bed.

I'm hear again, years later, pondering about that moment. Remembering my tough, strict stance, policing and protecting, training and instilling a value. Only it's not about a new bed. It's bigger, more lethal, and much more troubling.

How did I get here? What do I do? He's too big to stare down, too strong to force my way...and yet he's still a fragile child who needs to be shown the right path.

Hopes and dreams meld into day to day drudgery, aspirations collide with the mechanics of hard work. There are no guarantees, only the promise of what we hope for. How do I point him in that direction? How do I encourage the passion of the journey rather than the results, the poignancy of the process, and the not success?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

dust off my faith

dust off my faith,
take it down from the shelf,
open the book,
and read.

shake of my worry,
loosen the restraints,
pour out the stagnant,
and breathe in new air.

hour by hour,
sunrise by sunset,
the One who calls,
is near.

breathe in new air,
watch closely,
observe and listen and wonder and dream and hope and believe.

yes, always believe.