Day 11: Anchored Motion

HE went on:

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immortality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.  All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

 ~Mark 7:20-23

The awesome is not arrogance, a self-subsisting egomaniacal way of living that allows for no outside influence. While it should not bend to the wind of criticism, nor shudder in the storms of falsity, it should reach evermore toward the light, stretching out of the shadows and into life filtered through rays of golden promise.  It should warm, sustain, grow.    

The awesome is both anchored and fluid.  Immovable when rooted in truth; yet constantly in motion, a river sliding through cruel wilderness, adjusting course in relation to the landscape, increasing as it moves toward journey’s end, to be welcomed home into the vast ocean. 

Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Mark 7:14-15 resounding in my ears today:  

Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them.  Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.

What is defiling me?  What is marring my awesome?  Lord, help me to buff away the tarnish that has dulled my shine.  I want so much to reflect your brilliance in the eyes of those who behold me, so they may always see your handiwork in me.  Let me be pliable in your hands, as you smooth away the course edges of me, revealing even more of your design in my awesome. 

Within the context of Jesus’ words, and the continuing conversation of reclaiming awesome, Ann Voskamp spoke truth into my awesome today.  Because my awesome is pliable in the Master’s hands (Lord, may it ever be so!).  Recognizing that in my awesome resides my happiness, my joy, I will defer today to Mrs. Voskamp, her question penetrating my awesome with quiet instruction:           

Why do I allow creeping annoyance sabotage my own happiness? Is anything worth sacrificing joy?[1]

Lord, help me not to sacrifice my awesome, my joy.  Let my stave off the creeping annoyances of daily living and the imperfection of this fallen world.  Let my eyes seek you when I doubt, when I crave undefiled awesome.  And help me to always hear, let my awesome move through the undulating paces of life, being changeable, to be made even more beautiful in the journey, rooted in your truth.    

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Day 7: Heirlooms

Day 8: A Line in the Sand

Day 9: The Little Things

Day 10: These are a Few of My Favorite Things

[1]A Holy Experience, 9/26/2011 “How to walk through life (and growing pains)” by Ann Voskamp  full article here

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Day 10: These are a few of my Favorite Things

Recently, in a conversation about art, a professor referenced Ecclesiastes, saying, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.”[1]  Granted, this is not to be taken out of context, assuming that everything one does is appropriate and approved by God.  Instead, it is a call to enjoy life; enjoy what God has placed in our lives.  And to be thankful for these, recognizing from whence these delights come.  Art, music, dancing, literature, nature, conversation, coffee, delectable food, palatable drink; feel the emotions roused by these experiences, revel in the shared experiences these forums allow.  Life live.

And just as each one of us is unique in our design, calling, and gifting, so we are in our recreation.  My husband’s a runner; I swim.  I cannot stand running; I think it’s reserved for the “flight” segment of survival.  Yet, I could live in the water, if permitted.  My best friend loves pink; I would drape everything in black if allowed [verify this with my Mom, as a teen-ager, I begged to paint my walls black.  As a homeowner, I can now fully understand her resounding, “NO!”].

Recall whatever it is that moves you.  What draws out your “you”?  What brings a smile to your lips, when you’re so tired you can’t move?  What gets you excited, when you can hardly remember your own name?  So long as it’s not counter to God’s design (and you know what I mean), that’s an intragal part of your awesome.  It may not sit well with others.  It may be labeled as “nerdy” or “lame” or “predictable” by others.  But you know what?  You’re not here to worry about their opinions.  You’re here to re-ignite your awesome. 

Make a list, remember what you love.  Not what your significant other loves.  Not what your friends love.  Not even what you’ve been conditioned to love.  What do you love?  Once you’ve got your list, find ways to engage in the activities you have listed.  Do more of the things you love, not giving your life over to them; but do them with the intent to enjoy your time here, and to delight in the gifts given to you by your Heavenly Father. 

And just for a peak at my list, here’s a place I’d love to go (from a blog I love to visit:  www.epbot.com):

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Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Day 7: Heirlooms

Day 8: A Line in the Sand

Day 9: The Little Things

 

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[1] This conversation was regarding Pascal’s take on diversion, and the application in modern culture. And while diversion is still a driving motivator for most of our pastimes, this professor, along with others stunning minds, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, feels that not to escape our world, at times, in search of beauty, would be madness. The passage referenced is Ecclesiastes 9:7, though it should not be read without the context of the entire book, particularly the final chapter: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” [v. 13]

Day 9: The Little Things

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 147:4

Today it is more difficult to write than I anticipated.  My heart is heavy, struggling for a response to the executions, in separate states, of two death-row inmates.  One garnered national attention, prayer, and protest.  One did not.  Two victims, whose names are now footnotes in our modern history; their memories’ resigned to waiting in the wings of controversy.  Four families, two suffering for decades and two just beginning their descent therein, marred and changed forever.    

It is hard to think that in light of this, my little hurts and concerns are of any consequence to God.  There are days, when all the world’s suffering is too overwhelming, and I feel like my petty needs are nothing more than a lost button, an insignificant part of the pocket lint on God’s nightstand.  However, this is not truth.  God is intimately concerned with each and every individual person He has created.  Jesus illuminates this truth for His disciples in Matthew 10:28-31:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.   Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

God has concern even for lower members of His creation: sparrows, which in1^st century Jerusalem were sold two for a penny.  But Jesus tells us that God numbers the hairs on each person’s head.  Every individual hair.  How much more does He care about my heart, my spirit, than my hair? 

If God knows each and every star in the sky, of which our estimation is daily increasing, and calls each one by name, how much more important are the concerns of my heart to Him? 

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 ~ Psalm 37:4

As His beloved child, He is concerned about what concerns me.  He is also concerned for every heart He has ever made, or has yet to make.  Every person, in every situation.   There is nothing too small or too big for God.  Bring your concerns to Him; lay your troubles, your triumphs, your fears or heartbreaks at His feet.  Let Him determine their worth.  Let Him define yours.  Therein, lives the awesome. 

Psalm 147

 ¹ Praise the LORD.

   How good it is to sing praises to our God,
   how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

 ² The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
   he gathers the exiles of Israel.
³ He heals the brokenhearted
   and binds up their wounds.
⁴ He determines the number of the stars
   and calls them each by name.
⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
   his understanding has no limit.
⁶ The LORD sustains the humble
   but casts the wicked to the ground.

 ⁷ Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;
   make music to our God on the harp.

 ⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;
   he supplies the earth with rain
   and makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He provides food for the cattle
   and for the young ravens when they call.

 ¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
   nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him,
   who put their hope in his unfailing love.

 ¹² Extol the LORD, Jerusalem;
   praise your God, Zion.

 ¹³ He strengthens the bars of your gates
   and blesses your people within you.
¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders
   and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

 ¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool
   and scatters the frost like ashes.
¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
   Who can withstand his icy blast?
¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them;
   he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

 ¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob,
   his laws and decrees to Israel.
²⁰ He has done this for no other nation;
   they do not know his laws.

   Praise the LORD.

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Day 7: Heirlooms

Day 8: A Line in the Sand

    

Day 8: The Line in the Sand

There is no question: my awesome has an enemy.  And this enemy is wise, with eons of knowledge to draw from.  This enemy is strategic, going after only what matters most.  This enemy is tactical, using the most effective weapons against my awesome.  This enemy is subtle and deceptive, impersonating truth and normalcy.  But most importantly, this enemy is:

Conquered!

I am a child of the King of kings, co-heir with Christ, and beloved by God.  Therefore, my awesome’s enemy may not touch me.  Yes, this enemy may use all the means at his disposal (the media, words of loved ones/mentors/pastors, etc…) and this enemy will lie, steal, and masquerade as truth and light to get me to lay down my awesome.  But, I have to agree to it.  I have to allow him to deceive me.  I have to hand over my awesome.  I have to hang my head and say, “you’re right, I am not awesome.”

Today, I am saying, nay screaming, “No More!”  I am picking up my sword and drawing a line in the sand.  I know who I am and by whom I am loved. 

I will not hand over my heritage, my awesome, anymore.  I will no longer cower under the barrage of twisted truths, portrayed in the media.  I will no longer chain myself to warped ideals, erroneously espoused by those who should know better, but don’t.  I will no more agree with the lies about me or my awesome, on the lips from whom it hurts most.  I do not care whence they stem or whither they lead. 

I take this stand, on behalf of my awesome, on the Rock who calls Himself Truth.  I stand under His banner, beloved and cherished.  Warrior daughter, ready to battle for my awesome, my birthright.  But this is a fight that has already been won.  Kneeling at the feet of Christ, I claim victory over this enemy, in His name.        

And that, is awesome!

**Check out the photographer’s website here:  http://lovesonnetsfromgod.blogspot.com/2011/08/things-unseen.html  She’s amazing!

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Day 7: Heirlooms

Day 7: Heirlooms

It’s right there, in the beginning:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…’   

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

~Genesis 1:26 [part]-27

Right there, in Genesis, I am told who I am.  Made in His image ~ God’s image.  There is something of Him in me.   He designed it that way.  And it was good.

But just as it was at the very beginning of time, I sinned.  I fell short; I made choices that tarnished my crown and traded my royal birthright for momentary quenching of a fleshly appetite.  We all do.  Every. Single. One.

Like the prodigal son, who squanders his inheritance on fast and loose living.[1]  Or like Esau who traded his birthright as first born for a bowl of soup.[2]  Granted, in his words, Esau was almost starving.  But really, Esau?  Was it worth it?  No.  No more than my gratification of fleshly appetites was worth my inheritance; my place at the King’s table.

In today’s terms, it would be like taking my Great-Grandmother’s ring to the pawn shop; selling the silver tea service on Craig’s list.  All so I could hit the bars, or eat at my favorite restaurant, or spend an entire day at the spa.  Whatever it is that I do, whatever seeming need it meets right then (staying my hunger, helping me feel pampered, or just indulging in a “well deserved” break), it is never worth it. 

And in the sweeping narrative that is the story of my awesome (and yours), then come some of my favorite words: but God. 

But God didn’t want to leave me to my own, self-destructive devices.  But God didn’t want me to continue to trade my awesome (my identity, given to me by Him, even before the foundations of the earth were lain) for pitiful, worldly gains.  But God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.[3] The ransom paid; my inheritance bought back.  My place at the King’s table, won with blood, reestablished.

And it cannot be taken from me.  Not ever again.  I can be told it’s worthless, or that I am not worth it.  I can choose to believe these lies.  But that doesn’t change the truth: that I am:

a child of God

rejoiced over by God

a co-heir with Christ

beloved of God

a friend of God

delighted in by God.

I am worth so much to the Lord, that He bought my life with the blood of His only Son.  He so desires me to know who He created me to be, that Jesus stood silent before His accusers, He endured beatings and mockery; He wore a crown of thorns on my behalf and allowed His hands to be nailed to wooden beams.  He endure separation from His Father, which had never happened before (nor will again) in all of eternity.

...And on the third day, He rose again.  Christ suffered, died, and was buried ~ all true.  But the ultimate crescendo to the opus that is creation and history is this: HE IS RISEN!  And because Christ conquered the grave, because He rose again, I have been given back my inheritance.  My heirlooms are returned to me.  My place at the King's table is once again set just for me.  Christ has defeated my enemy, He has reclaimed what was given to me at the beginning of creation.   

Nonetheless, He paid a mighty price.  It is so great, so steep, so overwhelming, that all the accusations or lies of this world pale to translucence in their pettiness.  They are literally without substance.  The lies that I am not good enough.  That I am not loved, or lovely.  That I am a failure, a charlatan, a weakling, an imbecile, or a viper.  All of these are merely weak attempts by my enemy to convince me to put away my awesome.  To hide it; because he can’t take it from me anymore.  Instead, the world tries to convince me, through every means imaginable, to stop believing in the awesome inside of me.       

But this is my birthright, my inheritance.  I will not trade it any longer. I will not hide it anymore.  I will not doubt the Truth: I am beloved by God.  I am worthy (through Christ) to God.  Through Christ, I am made new.  I have been given strength through the Holy Spirit.  I have access to the wisdom of God.  And I am called by the Shepherd; I am one of His sheep. 

I am HIS.

There is no awesome apart from this.  And it is enough. Oh how sufficient it is; for me, and for you!           

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[1] Luke 15:11-32

[2] Genesis 25:28-34

[3] John 3:16-17

[4] John 1:12

[5] Zephaniah 3:17

[6] Romans 8:17

[7] Deuteronomy 33:12, Song of Solomon 6:3

[8] John 15:15

[9] Zephaniah 3:17

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Day 6: Awesomely Thankful

Slowing down.

Finding God in the busy crush of daily life.  Where He is sometimes pushed aside; until we have a great need of Him.  The Lover of our souls, made to wait, our affections growing stale and brittle out of what we claim as necessity. 

Can you hear His voice, tender as a lover, calling your treasured name? 

Do you see His love, laid out before you as a lavish celebration of His delight in you?

 Can you feel His breath on your cheek, as He whispers sonnets written just for you?

Most days, in the hurry-scurry rushing of surviving the day-to-day, I feel like I leave my awesome under the pile of needs-to-be-folded laundry, or soaking in the sink of dirty dishes.  If there were more hours in the day, Lord; or maybe another day in the week, one that I could just devote to catching up.  Then, if I were properly prepared, I would have time to devote to polishing my awesome; and recognizing myself in the reflection.  But I don’t believe this season is for monastic stillness.  Children, by their very nature, require time.  As does friendship; and love.  Time, the commodity traded so easily; yet in its slipping away, awesomeness is neglected, forgotten. 

I polished it bit today.  I pushed aside the incessant “to-do’s” and focused, instead on thankfulness.  And the recollection of these thanks made me recall a bit of the shimmering glory of the awesome.  It helped me to see the presence of God in my days, whether I’d noticed it then, or not.  It made me smile.

So I realized I need to be more aware, to practice looking for God’s presence in my day, to recall the awesome.  I need to be present, fully, in the moment in order to invoke the awesome.  Distraction, busy-ness, merely doing the next thing is merely survival.  And I long for awesome.    

I will take a moment, take time to recall His lavish gifts to you.  See how He has wooed me; how He woos me still.  Be still, breathe in the quiet.  Let myself see God’s love unfolding before me, in His way for only me.  Mark it; capture it within my heart.  Store it up for the dry times of the soul.  Lay this foundation, daily; and let the weight of my life rest upon it.  I am cherished.  I am delighted in.  I am loved by the Creator of the universe, the Author of all eternity. 

I will see these gifts and treasure them and recognize their meaning in my life.  Here, I will record them, daily adding to their number.  May they speak only of You, o Lord.  May You be honored here, for Your love is the orb encircling my life.  

  

 

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices

Day 5: Expansive Engagement

Day 5: An Expansive Engagement

You can smell it in the air.  The cool sharpness of coming rain.   Grey armadas marching across open skies, pulling deep, charcoal walls in their wake. Blades of grass strain; leaves shiver, flowers shy with anticipation.  The wind blows heavy and damp, bringing with it wetted expectation.

The clouds bristle with a fulfillment of what is yet to be; but somehow, somewhere, already is.  A vow written in the sky.  Like another, written on a heart.   A promise that though it may not be felt now, may not be immediate and present, it is; and it will be.  A proposal has been made:

Love me, above all others, the beloved asks.  My heart is free to say no.  I may turn and leave.  But how could I?  My beloved knows me.  The beloved cherishes me, for who I am.  At 3am and at 5pm, when I need healing and when I am well, when I have nothing and when I am rich in His love.

Wait for me, He says.  He promises to return, yet He will be with me, in every breath.  He leaves with me a part of Him; and goes to make plans for our forever after.  There is thunder in His embrace, lightening in His gaze, and tender drops of rain to kiss my face, and wash away my tears that are borne from His absence.  He holds me with His breath, and brushes my hair back with the winds.  I close my eyes and know that I am His.      

This is my awesome for today: I have been asked.  And I will keep saying yes.  Though it may not feel in the right here, all the time, right now; it both is and is yet to be.  This is the mystery of Christ in me.  Both fulfillment and continually opening up to greater completion; in anticipation of the day, in which this promise of hope and awesome wed.  A day in which love will fully come to pass.

I can feel His love for me, here in the quiet of my room.  I do not doubt.  My awesome unfolding in my heart, hesitant, fragile.  And I can see it coming like the clouds, heavy with rain to fall on my cheeks, wash away the un-awesome.  To refresh a barren landscape and call forth the life underneath.  His Love creates my Awesome.



My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

~Song of Solomon 2:10

Joining us for our 21 Days of Awesome?  Click on the links below to catch up, or refresh your memory :

Day 1: Awesome

Day 2: It’s Who I Am

Day 3: What Awesome Is Not

Day 4: Quieting the Shadow Voices