“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” (Deuteronomy 6:6)
Contemplating early morning, coffee in hand, pondering the steam that rises between cup and mouth and nostrils and mind. Breathing in the aroma that awakens as surely as God breathes breath and life and His word into me. Write your words on my heart, God, your handwritten script, curlicued and looping across the chambers of my heart to every corner: bright red like words from Christ in a red letter bible, permanent like toddler doodles on walls with magic markers.
“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9)
Wheels turning, heart knowing, Spirit whispering.. the hands scribble words and references as the pastor repeats these words of long ago, calling us to ask ourselves, to challenge, to push. “FAITH” in plaques and words on walls cannot bandaid the gaping wound that oozes truth. All creation calls out glory but inside a different cry; the truth cannot be quelled. My heart, my head acknowledge in unison with Spirit; Home fails to point to God with the same glory the simple rocks and trees find so easy. Home which should be Haven, should be Reflection of HIM, should be… more, better, peaceful, testimony, witness. Conviction stirs to action.
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,…” (Deuteronomy 6:7)
Family circled, children with ears closed who begin to soften as Word is read, who recite together verses of recent past that have been memorized. As if each verse, layered upon sweet layer of truth has been drawn to our lives like magnets to metal. As though there were reasons unseen for these verses to come together and collide at this point, at the timing of God’s hand.
“Serve God by the way you live.”
A toddler lesson from Sunday School etches into family life, bearing lessons and meanings far outliving the morning hour, impressing it’s truth on the weekday. A gaze around, a glance from front door to back confirms the stark contrast of “should” and “do.” The mess and clutter invites the inevitable question and it’s clear the answer to the question is ‘No.’ The ‘No’ echoes through each of us.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as to the Lord and not for man.” (Colossians 3:23)
Beauty of truth is that in its complexities there are simplicities, simplicities even obvious to children. As plain as the noses on our faces and the freckles on our noses – we see the truths before us. We know we cannot say we give our best, “heartily” is not an adverb we can claim. We pick it up and dust it off and put it back in its rightful place. Family which commits to changes that must be made, not for man, not for self, not for any other. To do what is right because it is right fuels the fire, urges on. Conviction pushes, indifference and unwillingness fall paralyzed behind as action moves forward, onward to completion. God calls us to action. We feel. We hear. We obey.
“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 6:8)
As children are often inclined, words are soaked in like sponges full of eagerness. Scriptures are taken literally and instructions lead to actions. Surprise, unexpected lessons from children eager, as if ripped from Inkheart’s pages children emerge with truth upon their skin.
A mother’s smile at the simplicity of the reminder, and the prayer: “Yes, LORD, write your words on my heart, and my face and my hands, as I live and love and work… for You. Amen.”
I’ve mentioned a little, bits and pieces, that we’ve been in a (long) process of finding a new church. I’ve tried a little here, a little there.. I’ve never really committed to anywhere..
I’m not really certain that this is “the one” or that we’ll end up committing to our “new church” either.. but I can say this: it looks like there’s potential. How’s that for vague? =p
Hubs and I have taken the kids to a new church for the past 3 Sundays and we’ve all liked it pretty well. The incredible thing is that it’s quite a drive (we have to leave 45 minutes before the service starts) and I can’t believe that we’re actually making that kind of drive on Sunday mornings. Fortunately there are two services and the late one is at 11:15. ;0)
This has also made for three really great family Sundays. We’ve either gone out to lunch with his family or gone straight over to his mom’s house and had lunch there, and then we spend the rest of the day swimming and visiting with his mom and her husband and his brother and sister-in-law. We haven’t left before dark thirty each Sunday and we’ve just enjoyed a lot of family quality time together. It’s been great.
I’m not even certain that we will all go back next Sunday, I’m just taking it one Sunday at a time. I know that the past three Sundays have been really great and I’m hoping for more great Sundays in the future. After such a long time of not being able to say that.. it’s really nice to say that right now. =)
This month’s Christian Audio free download of the month couldn’t have come at a better time. This month’s freebie is “Forgotten God,” by Francis Chan.
Earlier this week, Big Daddy downloaded the prequel, the audio version of “Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
“* from Amazon.com and he’s been listening to it on his computer out in the office. And I’m so happy that I get the newsletter for Christian Audio, telling me that I get to download the sequel for him for free. (HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, right??) ;0)
To get your free copy, visit christianaudio.com and enter the code “JUN2010″ — good for the month of June only, obviously. =)
*The link to Crazy Love is an affiliate link – which means that if you buy something after clicking through from my site, I get a (very) small commission for sending you there.
Do you ever feel like time stands still and for a moment you can almost understand how truly temporary this physical life is?
Like if you could just squint hard enough and look deep enough you could really “GET IT” but just as you start to see it.. everything goes black again. Life goes back to normal, the hum returns and all you’ve got to show for the near epiphany is a shiver down your spine.
Maybe you think I’m crazy. But this happens to me from time to time. I am suddenly struck deep with the “futility” of the physical world (the grass withers, the flower fades) and the utter pointlessness of most of our material things (especially things like credit scores and cavities) and for one drawn out moment my soul longs to be on the other side where there are no credit scores and cavities and everything makes sense.
I’m not suicidal and I’m not crazy. I don’t want to sell 100% of my belongings and live in the bush and I don’t want to ignore things like credit scores and cavities. Well, I don’t really care about the credit scores but at least not the cavities.
I’m just saying that, “Yo, this ain’t gonna last forever, y’all.”
And I know that in my head all the time.. but sometimes I can feel it and see it like it’s right there in front of me.
I’m going to take care of my teeth because God wants me to take care of my body but I’m not taking my teeth to Heaven with me so in the end.. they don’t matter. I’m going to take care of my credit score because God wants me to be a good steward of my finances but in the end, it doesn’t matter either. I will make sure we have enough clothes and food and other necessities but they aren’t going to last forever and they aren’t gonna do us much good “on the other side.”
I’d like to say that we need to keep perspective but honestly every time it happens it feels like it knocks everything OUT of perspective.
I suppose it’s because even when we have our priorities right and our perspective is good, with our finite minds we still can’t really get it. We don’t have the perspective God has. So when we get a glimpse of it, it shakes things up inside our head for just a minute.
I don’t know if God is going to give us all the answers when we get to Heaven. But I am sure that we’ll finally have true perspective, because we will finally be able to see everything from the right vantage point.
Wonder what the view looks like from Heaven?
Photo by Nick Russill, used under Creative Commons 2.0
“Dear God, I hope you are having a good night…”
~Drama Queen, age 7
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