A Night’s Surrender

moon

It is a moment of surrender when I leave the cocoon of my bed to wrestle with a wide awake mind in the shadows of the night.  To give up the comfort of sweet slumber and lean into the darkness.  I search for purpose and reason for this rustling of heart and soul but searching doesn’t mean finding.  Tonight was one of those answerless nights.

It is a night when words echo back like a slumbering breath – when darkness obscures vision and my heart begs to see.  Yet, in this hollow moment my soul feels strangely warmed.  For even now when I feel most alone, His Presence beckons me to come.

Come into the darkness and reach for the hand of God.

 I entrust my spirit into Your hands.  You have redeemed me, O Eternal, God of faithfulness and truth.

Psalm 31:5 The Voice

A Good and Gentle Morning

morning sun

Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 11:7

 

Oh gentle, morning sun you come bearing the gift of a new day.

Hope shimmers in the dew.

Rouse in me today what needs awaken – what has slumbered long and needs to stir.

In your gentle warmth may I feel my heart burning within.

Darkness is pushed aside and promise shoots forth.

I welcome this gift with arms open wide.

Longing to unwrap each moment that comes.

 

And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was

 given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.

Romans 5:5 The Voice

A Prayer for Today

azaleas

Father some of us come wearied by the cares of this world

Our hearts are broken

Our minds confused

Our strength is gone

Others come holding firm to things that keep us from you

We grasp so tightly to our hurts, disappointments and fears…

We cannot even begin to reach out for help and relief

Father, I pray for fresh revelation of your love to overwhelm us

Revive us Lord

May we encounter you in such a way that we are compelled towards your heart and away from our own

May your Word – your Living Word – come alive in us in a way that we have never experienced

Like your breath upon the dry bones in the valley…breathe your Spirit upon us and in us!  Make us alive!

For You are God

Who forgives all our sins

Who heals all our diseases

Who redeems us from the pit

Who is faithful and true

You are God

Who loves from everlasting to everlasting

May your love drenched living breath bring a song to our lips…

“Praise The Lord all my soul – all that is within me praise his holy name!”

May we never stop singing!

Awaken in us a passion for your presence.

Open our eyes to see your Kingdom now and

May we be ready for the kingdom to come

Move mightily upon us,

Move mightily in us and

Move mightily through us

 

 

 

 

 

Can’t touch this

Misc 208

Time…

We don’t control when ours begins or even when it ends – only God.  Yet even still, He allows us control over the moments falling in between.  It is the proverbial dash between the dates found on too many tombstones.  In His creative, expressive love He has sketched out our lives but it is up to us to live the dream.

This year has been a wildly busy year with very little tangible worth.   Worth, however, isn’t always found in the items we hold or touch.  Sometimes and often more importantly, it is found in the things that touch us and change us.  In that, this year has been overflowing.

When I left my nursing career, I thought I would have all this “extra” time – time to get home and hearth in order; time to spend with friends sipping tea and eating lunch and time to pour out my words from heart to paper.  Yet, it hasn’t quite been this way.  On occasion, what I think will happen does not.  Such was this year. 

Instead of ordering home and hearth, I have been flying by the seat of my pants trying to maintain equilibrium.  I am a creature who thrives when things are clean and rightly placed.  Not compulsive by any means but life happens with more clarity when my surroundings are together. 

Instead of spending time with friends, I have been lucky to find a moment in a hallway to reconnect.  This has made a lonely year.  It is a funny road us introverts walk when our needed refueling occurs in quiet and solitude yet we desire not to do life alone.  Often, we struggle between the two.  This year has been a struggle.

Instead of writing with abandon I feel like I have abandoned my writing.  When life is a blur and tasks are overwhelming, the work of writing falls down the “must do” list.   What once used to flow now burps and spurts.

Worth carries a high price but it isn’t what you may think – it is me (and you).

I have found in the letting go of what I thought would happen – I get to embrace what He has designed.  The cost is me.  Only I can surrender myself.  Only I can allow eternity to inhabit my present moment.  He has given me that control.  When I release it back to Him, the infinite invades.  What I once sought to measure, I can no longer confine much less define.   In Him is found the exceedingly abundant more than all I can ask or imagine.  When eternity invades, His power is at work within. 

I may not be able to touch it but I have been changed by it.

And that has made this a very good year.

Sweet Silence

photo

Sweet silence I beg

               do not leave me

Rather, surround me

               in your gentle arms

In your sweet caress

               may I find peace

In your warm embrace

               may I find love

In your quiet comfort

               may I find forgiveness

Oh, most gentle spirit

               graceful and true

In your presence

               I know that God exists

In the sweetness of solitude

               He speaks to me

 

These simple words were shared almost 5 years ago on my very first blog.  Today, the quiet calls me back…