Sunday, December 30, 2012

Lucky on the Long Yellow

It's habit. My hand grips the door panel and my foot unconsciously pushes into the floorboard every time someone goes for the gold.  I'm not sure what the two extra minutes of wait time are going to hurt, but heck, gotta get there, right? Where ever "there" is.  On this most recent occasion, we were lucky, the yellow lingered longer than usual.

One of my sons has long accused me of perpetually finding a spiritual application for every life event. Well, here's another such event--

The intersection of life, the cross road conundrum of the opus;  "Should I stay or should I go?".

The way I see it, there are two choices:
#1- Blow through now and pay later.   OK.  But do I really want an incorporeal summons from above in the form of consequence for a careless choice?  Plowing ahead in the fast lane of sin can put me dead center in the path of destruction. And it can involve innocent parties in the process.
#2--Obey the law and slow down. God grants warning signs that flash CAUTION at the intersections of life. Slowing down seems the logical and safe alternative.
Refraining from impulsiveness takes practice, the yellow light can be a time of tutoring.  I need lots of tutoring, unfortunately.
Sometimes critical moments require creative measures and patience, so when at an intersectional impasse, slowing down and praying might just result in the green light your waiting for.

Mid all the traffic of the way
Turmoil without, within
Make of my heart a quiet place
And come and dwell therein.
                    --unknown

Be still, and know that I am God.
                                                                 Psalm 47:10



Should I go or Should I Stay.   The Clash.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

On sin, snow and scarlet






Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow;
Isaiah 1:18





Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Room at the Inn

This indescribable thing that we call the Christmas atmosphere only hangs in the air as something like a lingering fragrance or fading vapor from the exultant explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly two thousand years ago. But the savor is still unmistakable, and it is something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace.  1

I want to be disturbed enough, like Herod, when he heard the news that the king of the Jew's had been born, to investigate this birth and ask;  What does this  mean to me? 1

                                      And at night we win to the ancient inn
                                      Where the child in the frost is furled,
                                      We follow the feet where all souls meet
                                      At the inn at the end of the world.
                                                      --G.K. Chesterton


And so I follow the feet where all souls meet, for here is room for even wretched me.


1. G.K. Chesteron, A Year with G.K. Chesteron, pg. 355
2. Matthew 2:3





Thursday, December 13, 2012

SHALOM?


Shalom :  hebrew word for peace-
rich, deep, spiritual meaning, expressed when God moves and makes our brokenness whole.
             
Shalom for you as an individual means no fighting with yourself, no quarreling between the two halves of your divided soul. To wish someone shalom is to wish him or her the blessing of wholeness and integrity.                   -- Rabbi Harold Kushner





In despair I bowed my head
there is no peace on earth I said
for hate is strong and mocks the song
of peace on earth, goodwill to men.
                          --Casting crowns


For many there is no peace. No shalom.  Especially during the holiday season.
Jesus wept for the wounds of the world, it's only fitting we should as well.  


Should I be carried to the skies
on a bed of flowery ease?
while others fought to win the prize
and sailed through bloody seas?
                 --Isaac Watts.


            As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.
                                                           1 Samuel 12:23



     SHALOM !

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

IS


Replay!
I'm one of those people who likes to take up permanent residence in the past.
Fortunately, this is a good thing. I have many fond memories of my childhood-- magical christmas', family vacations, backyard BBQ's and Sunday dinner at the grandparents. Even the Saturday chores, lectures and groundings, and honing of my writing skills with 500 repetitions of;  "I will not hit my brother" or  I will not talk back to my parents" make me smile.
                                                                       He Was                                                                              
         You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.
                                                                        Job 10:12



Remember!
Tomorrow(eternity) is promised. That inspires hope.
                                                                    He is to come

   
                           
Return!
Unfortunately, I can't stay in yesterday  as much as I would like. My flesh and my spirit occupy the present with all its demands.   Ugh.
And tomorrow is, well, tomorrow. So return to the present I must.
So often we are so busy looking back or planning ahead we forget to live for the moment.
In her book,  Living in the Sacred Now,  Kim Thomas compares the now to a flying trapeze act.
"What woos me most is the flying trapeze act. It is so all or nothing.  There is no room for halfway commitment or apathetic involvement. They have rehearsed their act, so with grace and timing, toes pointed, they leap fearlessly from one bar to the next. But the time between the bars is not dead time. It is the peak of the performance. My problem is that I keep thinking the only safe places are the two swinging bars. The time between them is unknown and risky. Perhaps the secret would be to swing long and hard enough on one bar until one could hold both this bar and the next one. But then there would be no flying. And flying is where life is fully lived..."
                                                                           He is.
                                                 He is the God of the sacred now.
                                                 


I'm going to live between the bars today.  In the IS.  Just say'n.


                                    I Am the Lord God, "who was and is and is to come."
                                                                    Revelation 1:8


Living in the Sacred Now.  Kim Thomas