Page 2 of 2

Posted on

Look It Over

Stump

I read the following reflection this morning by Wendell Berry. Wendell has authored fifty books of poetry, fiction, and essays. This piece is from his first volume of poems call Leavings. I read it a few times through, for some unearthed reason it resonated and reminded me of the gifts God gives us each day…with no cost.

MC
__________________________________

Look It Over

I leave behind even
my walking stick. My knife
is in my pocket, but that
I have forgot. I bring
no car, no cell phone,
no computer, no camera,
no CD player, no fax, no
TV, not even a book. I go
into the woods. I sit on
a log provided at no cost.
It is the earth I’ve come to,
the earth itself, sadly
abused by the stupidity
only humans are capable of
but, as ever, itself. Free.

A bargain! Get it while it lasts.

Posted on

Bless What Eludes My Grasp: Loder

Powerful prayers Have you ever been praying for someone…some things…and you just knew that there was something else you were supposed to pray about? There was someone on your list of people that was eluding your mind in the moment and it gnawed at you so you prayed the generic prayer to the sovereign God of forgettful people reminding Him that He knew all and you remember scant little…We have all been there. In this prayer we are reminded that there are things that elude our grasp, so we trust in the God that is larger than our grasp.  MC

______________________________

Lord, so many things skitter through my mind,

and I give chase to gather them

    and hold them up in a bunch to you,

but they go this way and that

    while I go that way and this…

So, gather me up instead

and bless what eludes my grasp but not yours:

    trees and bees, fireflies and butterflies,

    roses and barbecues, and people…

Lord, bless the people…bless the people:

    birthday people,

        giving birth people,

            being born people;

    conformed people,

        dying people,

            dead people;

    hostaged people,

        banged up people,

            held down people;

    leader people,

        lonely people,

            limping people;

    hungry people,

        surfeited people,

            indifferent people;

    first world people,

        second world people,

            third world people;

    one world people,

        your people,

            all people.

Bless them, Lord.

Bless what eludes my grasp but not yours.

~Ted Loder (Guerillas of Grace)

Posted on

The Great Antecedent: A.W Tozer

Abstract light

I read and mediated on this Tozer piece this morning…. It comes from his book "The Divine Conquest" I have always said that God is always previous, that He is the first of all moves in life; Tozer ruminates on this as looks at the "unbeginning One." Grab some coffee (Tozer blend ) read, and ask yourself just how large a concept of God do you have, how you experience Him is limited by your concept of Him.

Monty

******************************************

The Great Antecedent

For all things God is the great Antecedent. Because He is, we
are and everything else is. He is that "dread, unbeginning One,"
self-caused, self-contained and self-sufficient. Faber saw this when he
wrote his great hymn in celebration of God's eternity.

Thou hast no youth, great God,

An Unbeginning End Thou art;

Thy glory in itself abode,

And still abides in its own tranquil heart:

No age can heap its outward years on Thee:

Dear God! Thou art Thyself Thine own eternity.

Do not skip this as merely another poem. The difference between a
great Christian life and any other kind lies in the quality of our
religious concepts, and the ideas expressed in these six lines can be
like rungs on Jacob's ladder, leading upward to a sounder and more
satisfying idea of God.

We cannot think rightly of God until we begin to think of Him as
always being there, and there first. Joshua had this to learn. He had
been so long the servant of God's servant Moses, and had with such
assurance received God's word at his mouth, that Moses and the God of
Moses had become blended in his thinking, so blended that he could
hardly separate the two thoughts; by association they always appeared
together in his mind. Now Moses is dead, and lest the young Joshua be
struck down with despair, God spoke to assure him, "As I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee." Moses was dead, but the God of Moses still
lived. Nothing had changed and nothing had been lost. Nothing of God
dies when a man of God dies.

"As I was—so I will be." Only God could say this. Only the Eternal
One could stand in the timeless I AM and say, "I was" and "I will be."

Verse

"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of
your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with; I will never leave
you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5

Thought

We cannot think rightly of God until we begin to think of Him
as always being there, and there first.

Prayer

Let us think rightly of You, Lord, by realizing that You have
always been there and that You were there first.

Posted on

Morning Rhythm

Shutterstock_7756789 Morning is an opportunity for newness…possibilities…potentialities. If the night has brought you some sleep (hopefully!) and some closure to the previous day, we can enter into the fresh canvas of life that awaits with the morning dew. Practicing the night rhythm will dramatically improve your experience of encountering the rhythm of God in the morning!

More often than not, our mornings become a rush of timed rituals to get us out of the door and onto the road. "Coffee…newspaper…shower…teeth…what to wear…coffee again…toast…work stuff…car keys…see ya later!"

There is a rhythm there, but the rhythm is chaotic and hurried…forced. The pulsating, resonating voice of God gets buried somewhere between the first cup of coffee and the news blaring from the speakers in your car as you scan traffic reports.

Establishing a centered morning rhythm will bring balance to your day, give you the ability to better deal with the stresses on the road, and in the workplace. Your morning rhythm, like the night rhythm, is nothing huge, overwhelming, or forced. The morning rhythm is allowing your first conscious breath to acknowledge that God is, and you belong to Him.

I like to start my morning rhythm while I am still in bed. As soon as I start to re-enter the world of stress and chaos, while my eyes are still heavy and the bed is still warm, the rhythm begins as I say, "Good morning Abba…it's good to be with you…let's make this day a work of art."

While there are many rhythm tools (spiritual disciplines) that you can use to establish your morning rhythm, let me again encourage you to simply "be" with God.

Maybe you could keep some of these ongoing rhythm Scriptures on your bedside table so that you could begin your day with God even before your feet hit the ground. Or, if you have a moment to find a place to sit for a few minutes to create your day and how you would like it to go with God definitely do that!

Before I read a Psalm…I begin with simply centering my day with God. "Abba (Jesus' choice of name for God the Father, it means daddy)…I belong to you." Let God know the way you desire to react and respond to the demands of your day…the kind of person you want to be to those around you. Give God permission to get your attention throughout the day so that you can become what you desire.

After this, slowly read the Psalm and then listen for what God might say to you. You might experience a stillness filled with direction, or simply silence. There is no "right" outcome, only what is…so be grateful for the moment ad take it with you throughout the day. Here is a morning rhythm Psalm to add to your collection:

_________________________

Psalm 63

O God, you are my God,

for you I long;

for you my soul is thristing.

I long for you

like dry, weary land without water.

Give me your strength and your glory.

I wish to praise you all
my life

fill my soul as with a banquet.

I cling to you;

hold me close in your hands.

_________________________

May your day have the fingerprints of God all over it!

Dei Gratia
Monty