sway in the wind
the death winter brings
reminiscing again
round goes the cycle
so providentially set
to die is to live
and be born again
the desire is endless
to live in that place
where the glory of sight
Is to look upon your face
She had forgotten the taste of new wine and sweet olive oil…
Photo by Alena Koval
I saw her standing in the Valley of Decision and I reached for her hand gently.
I said, “I don’t know where you are coming from but I do know what you are running from.”
She said she had forgotten her loveliness and her might. She has forgotten the taste of new wine and sweet olive oil. Her trees would bear no more fruit. All of her gifts and talents had drained away. The “invented” normal had left her heart and soul gravely bruised…
I have seen it many times in sixty-three years. The exigencies the “inventor of lies” has put upon us. The accuser, the impostor of beauty and wisdom says, “We girls have to be skinny, smart, beautiful, witty, sexy, as well as Mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, healer, cook, house keeper, and oh yes, we can never age, wrinkle, or grow soft muscles or gray hair…
Oh what a relief is found when we know these falsehoods cannot raze our joy! The Spring rain will wash you clean of shame and doubt and you will regain all you have lost! Young woman, daughter, widow, single Mother, or any Mother, any woman…Come to the Valley of Decision and lay down all the plates you are spinning. Hold with palms open upward any control you deem you have and you will realize that you are so far beyond what you believed. Choose Wisdom instead of control. Choose Wisdom which says, “You are the Pearl of Great Price!”
Stay in this Valley and decide to seek Wisdom… be healed, be whole, and dance before the Lord God without fear and then reach out your hand for the next woman you see and give her the Wisdom you have gained…it is a decision, it is truth or it is lies and you must choose…thousands upon thousands of women are waiting for your hand…
A bruised reed he will not break, and a fading candle he won’t snuff out. He’ll bring forth justice for the truth. Isaiah 42:3
Also, inspiration from Joel 3:14
Joe and the Pepe’
Photo by NaMaKuKi
We had the Red Tide
the summer of seventy five
All the shrimpers went away
but sailor Joe stayed behind
Joe cursed the Red Tide
Stayed drunk on Muscadine
Until one day the Pepe’ set sail
never to be seen again
From that day till this
The Old timers tell tales
Of a ghost ship, the Pepe’
With its bright red sail
The Collage
Photo by rawpixel.com
Sea
No people
There is a secret
No footprints in the sand
Artistry
Sounds like the waves
As a matter of fact
Unforgettable
Sunday
So natural like a heartbeat
The look of love
In a happy house
Cracked Mirrors
- Photo by the happiest face =)
We were exalted in Eden
above all creation ruled
Even in our fractures of sin
we bear His image like rare jewels
The lilies of the field
nor Solomon and all his gold
Can please the Holy One more
than the image that we hold
We are all cracked mirrors yet
reflecting still God’s face
We are exalted by His blood
in His high and heavenly Grace
“Grace is the most dangerous, expectation-wrecking, smile-creating counter-intuitive reality there is.”
You know it really shouldn’t astound me but it still does. After all of these years I am given new glimpses and I am glad to say a more accurate view of God’s grace everyday…
It is so easy to use the word Grace in the Christian world. I realize now that if the true meaning of Grace was unleashed in the church or more to the point in MY life…well there is just no words…
So here is the thing…This writer, Preston Sprinkle writes this, “Grace is the most dangerous, expectation-wrecking, smile-creating counter-intuitive reality there is.” That sentence grabbed at my gut. He went on to say the Grace of God ” has no leash.”
God’s grace is untamed. It is wild and free!
“Divine Grace is God’s relentless loving pursuit of His enemies, who are unthankful, unworthy, and unlovable.”
Grace is a gift for the person in the gutter, the outcast, the unattractive, and yes even a church full of self-righteous misguided believers (praise God he love self-righteous people too!!!) “
“Jesus gutted the religious leaders of his day by showing Grace to whores, lepers, and the dregs of society yet he extended that same Grace to the Pharisees who sought him out!” Isn’t this rich? I can’t make God love me. I do not have to perform because “God loves me because of WHO he is and because of WHAT Christ has DONE!!!
Oh how the Truth can set you free from all of your pious judging of others, at least it does for me. I am glad his mercies are new every morning. Jesus loves sinners…even the very tidy looking ones.
She Offers Perfect Praise… “unless you come as a child you will not know the kingdom of heaven…”
A child is not aware of her dependence on another. She simply trust that it will be done and gives her praise to God in unsolicited ways. Like the sunflower she moves through her day always facing the sun.
She praises God with belly laughs and silly songs never doubting that he will not be delighted with her. She praises by folding her little hands to pray. She praises by dancing for all the world to see. She praises by clapping for herself when she accomplishes a task. She praises with her tears when she is hurt and loving arms reach for her. She praises when she jumps into her daddy’s arms trusting that he will always catch her. She praises when she hangs on to her Mommy’s hand when she is unsure of what is occurring.
She is unencumbered of what things cost or ashamed of anything because she Trusts The Holy One who has shown himself to her in the rainbow and in the leaves and in the pretty rocks she picks up all along her walks with her Mama.
And all of the heavenly host rejoice with her!
“In all honesty I find myself to be a bit of a lapser… “
Like Einstein, I believe imagination just might be more important than knowledge. I am actually sure of it…
“In all honesty I find myself to be a bit of a “lapser”, the old lady said to me as we sat on the park bench. She laughed a hearty belly laugh and continued, “I lapse into doubt that I will make it to tomorrow and then I lapse into desperate hope that I will! See that vivid color blue of the sky today? I thought it was a question but she went right on talking… that is the color of the sky when there are no doubts and everything is crystal clear to me. That is what I call God’s blue. I know without a doubt how to live a life of purpose and kindness. Oh how I love God’s blue!”
My heart was warmed by the assurance that I had just happened to sit down on a park bench next to the right person. “I have lapses too I said, lapses in “How” to live well, I commented. The old woman did not laugh at me but sat there pensive. I figured at that point she would cast me away as crazy and take quick leave of our bench. She did not leave however and it wasn’t until years later I realized she could not leave because she knew me. She was at the end of her pilgrimage and she knew she was sent to that bench just for me. I now want to sit on the bench in the park for other pilgrims if I get the chance.
She began to speak of many things, deep things, funny things, horrible things and I listened hard. She shared how when Day’s sky was a gray-blue those were the days when she knew God was covering her with his Almighty protective wing. She said when there were many obstacles like clouds and winds in the sky that she realized the passing of time and the briskly moving clouds were a reminder every minute is a treasure. Then she said the colors of a Sunset sky were evidence of God’s love of relationships where all colors are mingled together to show His brilliance and to remind us that each of us is a different and known color to Him. These analogies went on for hours and I cannot do her wisdom justice with mere words. She painted with words like a Master.
The night sky she said is not to be feared because it is ordained to us for the purpose of rest, health, growth, and tears. The moon she said is a reminder that even though the “lesser” light rules the night it is no less light. The “dark” is the constant reminder that God does not slumber when we do. She said the moonless, dark sky is the hardest one because you have to believe in the light even when you cannot see it.
As the sun began to set all the colors of creation appeared and the old lady and I sat in silence in God’s Cathedral and worshipped Him, the Creator and all of his magnificent skies. As we parted the old lady took my hand and she put it to her soft crepe paper cheek. She said, “the next time you “Lapse” into a “how to do life well” simply look up and God’s blue will guide you and give you all the answer you need.
I do it every day.
Due to Bad Weather…
So I am sitting in the Detroit airport waiting for a late flight, due to bad weather and a plane pulls up…everyone gradually looks around, they get up and walk to the observation window…low and behold a military escort marches out into the rainy, ice cold apron and then off the plane comes a casket and a family…all of us in the window stand reverently and then a young man in uniform salutes…some people put their hand over their heart as it dawns on each of us what we are witnessing..some begin to shed tears…this person who has served their country is coming home…there are no news cameras, no horns blowing…we don’t know their name or their family but all of us mourn…all of us are relieved it isn’t our son or daughter, brother, sister, mom, or dad…all of us wish the story would be different…a somber blanket lay over this small band of witnesses to something so private yet so universal…I bow my head and pray for the family…pray for my family who lives in freedom…pray for my country that she might be healed…as the casket is loaded into the hearse the crowd begins to spread out and I hear a little three year old girl say, “Daddy, can we get some candy now?”…the Dad picks her up and hugs her close…he cannot speak…I walk away and ask God to forgive me for complaining earlier about the weather…
The Fruit of The Lie…
- Photo by Picography
Everything living bears fruit. It is ordained to be so but the fruit of the lie…well, it is the way of destruction. You will read on Christian folk’s plaques, little framed sayings, and coffee cups what is known as “the Fruit of the Spirit.” The fruits of spirituality in Christ Jesus are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Most of us who have attended church most of our lives or had a Biblical upbringing can quote these words verbatim.
The fruit of the lie however, is not talked about as much but it’s evidence is rife within humanity. I have seen with my own eyes in the last twenty years… more fruit of the lie than I ever dreamed possible. It is as if the conscience of society only concerns itself with what he/she presumes to be morally acceptable. Not whether a thing is True.
Society now says, “Everyone has their own truth.” THIS is the Lie. There can only be one Truth and Truth stands alone.
If you believe the Bible, in the very beginning the human problem starts with a lie and disobedience which was instantaneously followed by Shame. The Truth is distorted just enough to sound like truth but it isn’t. This specific spiritual distortion lures you into a temporary comfort that may “imitate peace” for a short time but just like snow that appears to be a warm fluffy cloud when you press yourself into its deceiving embrace so gently it snuggled you tightly until your cold heart stops beating and you are dead inside.
Lest you think I am exaggerating let’s look at some of the fruit of the lie…
- Saying we “know” God but never being grateful to Him or honoring him rather we honor our own works of our hands, our deeds, our magnanimous “reaching out” to the less fortunate or having wealth of our own for which we give ourselves all the credit. We say “to the works of our hands, you are our gods.” Actually denying his existence and Holiness we belittle His name.
- Denying who created us and that we are our own “adapted” gods. We instead call it Adaptive Evolution. Once again Denying the total completion of God Almighty.
- We build mighty armies wishing they can keep peace in a world where there is no peace and all the while we here “let’s all just sit down and talk and get along. Those radicals are our only problem.” We never pray or fast or seek God’s direction anymore! Now that is some deadly fruit!
- Denying that it is God who gives life and healing yet we boast about our choices and our technology as if knowledge alone without ethics is okay. Yet death still comes and we must face that.
- Saying that “we” feed ourselves when the Truth is that Americans can barely make one day without electricity and refrigeration and we are “out” of heat, food, and gasoline. Instead we are lulled into a false sense of prosperity and believe we can “fix” it all.
I am not saying that working hard and having possessions are a LIE but they truly are a bad thing when we begin to believe the LIE that we “did it all ourselves, look how great we are…look at the technology we have discovered, look at our genius…” when all along it is God who gives all “good” gifts and never “humbling” ourselves rather we are proud, arrogant, and haughty.
There is no Truth, nor Love, nor Good apart from God. That is the Truth. The Fruit of the Truth is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Jill Autrey Dorman 