Song of Stairs

Jerusalem is built like a city

that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up,

the tribes of the LORD,

to praise the name of the LORD

according to the statute given to Israel.

Psalm 122:3-4

Father,

Watch over our frame,

the temple you dwell

this body our home

this sinew and bone,

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

use stubble and hay

chaff in the wind--blown away,

then wake up to wonder

what happened today.

Watch over our cities,

the souls that swell

descendants on loan

the tribes of our own,

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

water with worry

dilute the trek--live the flurry,

then wake up to wonder

what was the hurry.

Watch over our walls

our life citadel

our heart enthrone

your peace to own

lest left to ourselves

to labor in vain

with mortar of man

like Babel's tower-reaching sky,

then wake up to wonder

just how did we die?
                  L.Paddock

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

May those who love you be secure.

Psalm 122:2

http://frankandcarystock.deviantart.com/art/Stone-stairs-287281686
1. Psalm 119:13
2. 1 Peter 3:18

Grace in the Garden

Saving. It's all God's idea.

Before I was formed in the womb, before I put my foot forward on the pavement this very twinkle in time, before I chose that disobedience or that donkey or dropped that word in the room, even beyond the Garden to the speaking of creation into the void, it was all your idea to save. To give grace.

Today is no surprise to you, it's appointment doesn't change the circumstance of Edens Keening or Gethsemane's wailing or the triumph of Calvary's tree, or my continual need of thee.

For while I was dead in my trespasses, you were designing my bent.
While I was dead in my trespasses, you were in the wilderness fasting, and praying for me.
While I was dead in my trespasses, you were turning water into wine.
While I was dead in my trespasses, before time and eternity, you died for me.

Selah.

Jeremiah 2:24a Ephesians 2:4

All that is You

Father,

I am in awe that you humble yourself to look upon us!

More than that, you actually walk among us !

 How I long to live in the light and life and hope and holiness and peace and truth and forgiveness and mercy and grace and power and glory and majesty and splendor and all that is you.

I need to touch the hem of your robe now, I need to feel the spark of your spirit ignite me anew.

I long to be garrisoned within your glory and given that eternal perspective of a distant land-- that place of peace, those holy heights of heaven, and be granted strength for the journey as I keep my eyes on the flame that burns on Sinai's soul.

Selah

Psalm 113:6
Revelation 2:1

Winters Worm

In short, winter depresses me.

Period.

I begin to dread it's arrival on July 4th, the date I consider summers mid-way mark- the apex of the all to short season that represents everything green and alive.

Winter is death and dark shadows.
Winter is grey and cold and sinister and claustrophobic.
The days are short and the nights are long.

But this past season, strangely, I didn't want it to leave me.

It seemed winter had found it's worm-it's anima.

I felt it behind me, pulling me inward towards its cold soul and wrapping me with the wings of its frigid cloak much like a behemothic seraph might.

It  became somewhat of a protective guardian isolating me from the world.

I can't explain it. I just felt safe, shrouded.

I didn't want to leave the confines of its cradle.

Maybe I needed a sabbatical from the spinning sphere of humanity, a soul rest.

Maybe I needed my brittle branches snapped, the cold and selfish heart thawed, the dormant faith revived, the obstinate will tamed and the road of righteousness restored.

Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly before your God

Micah 6:8

Maybe Winter needed to have it's way, so that I could heal, and be that gentle spring rain, the new green leaf, that doe of the morning or coo of a dove.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the cooing of doves is heard in our land...
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Isn't it just like You

I  bend the knee,

position  hands

to worship

but,

it's bare boned and,

half-hearted,

it's skeletal and,

sparse.

My eyes, they bend away-

shifting, turning,

distracted,

divided.

Isn't it just like you,

then,

to turn things upside-down

and,

inside out,

to make it all about,

 me,

instead.

I cough out words-

you return manna.

Praise weakly proffered-

circles back as worth wrapped

and,

I'm found,

bound

by grace.

      

White Stone

I will also give him a white stone with a new name on it.

Revelation 2:17

It occurred to me this morning, as I used some of the many names of God in praise during my quiet time, to consider what name might be imprinted on that white stone of Revelation for me.

What will my white stone say?

Will it tell my story here on earth?

How will I be known for all eternity?

In what way will that 'name' be a reflection of who I am based on Gods design of me?

"Name"; a word or a combination of words by which a person is designated, called, or known.

Names are influenced by many variables; culture, trends, traditions, personality, and even socioeconomic status.

It is interesting to consider just how much a part of a person's identity a name really is.

Consider some of the names for God found in scripture and how they define Him-
Ancient of Days
High king of Heaven
Son of the Living God.
Light of the world
Chosen and precious corner stone
He who searches hearts and minds
The God who See's
Morning star
Ransom for all men
I am who I am
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Using nature and descriptive personality traits and bent, rather than socially influenced trends that result in benign, one or two syllabled monikers that have relatively nothing to do with the person, the Native Americans employed a similar concept in selecting an eponym.

I looked up a few just for fun--

Dances with wolves
Runs beside horse
Lives in the woods-Cherokee
She always plays
Forest water-Cherokee
Stays at home-Chippewa
He laughs-Algonquin
Restless one-Hopi

Recently, in the midst of an especially difficult time of struggle in my life, The LORD affirmed my worth with a promise from scripture.
I needed the affirmation--

Daughter of Jersusalem, who's punishment as been taken away from you.    Zephaniah 3:14

When my mother, only 66 years old, was dying from Luekemia, The LORD gave me a very specific promise regarding her eternal destiny and ultimate dwelling place--

She who dwells--in the secret place of the Most High.  Psalm 91:1

During a particularly intense season of prayer spent on my knees for my husband, I was given this--

Bring the Boy to Me  Matthew 17:17

While waiting for our Korean born daughter, Abby, God confirmed the fulfillment of His promise to bring my daughter from the ends of the earth...your--

Seed from the East.     Isaiah 43:5-6 kjv

While the above verses in bold are probably not the holy white stone name to be assigned in heaven to that particular individual, it is certainly insightful to ponder ourselves beyond just a title.

There is one thing I am sure about, concerning that white stone name--

It will be a fitting description of who we are in the eyes of the one who made us.

It will be a holy name, known only by me and my maker.

******

And then, there is the Greatest name of all, the name of Jesus.

Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God The Father.

  Phillipians 2:9-11

The Beginning Place

I don't know where that soul seed arrived from.

But the little blue strips tell me it's in there-

The beginning place.

Father, thank you for the promise and presence of this new life, please be present during the shaping, sculpting, evolving and....

Pause.

Isn't asking God to enter the womb and oversee the process a little like inviting an artist to attend his own canvas?

He is already there!

In the secret place- The Beginning Place

Doing what He does...creating;

He who binds the beautiful pleiades and loosed the cords of Orion.
He who cuts a path for the thunder storm and knows the place where lightening is dispersed.
Who made the behemoth and knows the abode of light.
Who knows the currents of the deep and calls each star by name.
He who has walked the recesses of the deep but now sits seated at the high hand of God.

Him.

You, Oh LORD.

At work, deep within in her.

The very finger of god- the very presence of holy.

Dust cleaves...God breathes.

Consecrated crafting.

 Knitting together, perfectly piecing,

Sinew meets soul, bone joins body.

A tiny toe, a lip, an ear. 

Muscle twitches. Heart beats. Lungs draw amniotic air.

Miracle.

Who can comprehend? Who can comprehend?

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully (being) made.

My frame is not hidden from you in this secret place...your eyes see my unformed body.

Psalm 139:13-15

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are God. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.

You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Nehemiah 9:5b-6

Psalm  8:8  91:1  Job 38   40:15  Jeremiah 32:19