Egret, Everglades National Park, July 2013
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
Psalm 27:13-14
Waiting, of course, does not mean doing nothing.
Waiting, does not even mean waiting.
Not like you and I wait:
A paralyzing wait, waiting for a word, a sign, a direction.
For the goodness of God, in and through Christ Jesus, has broken into this world of ours. And we are not blessed to see it by waiting to see it, but by doing, by living as Kingdom people, living like we believe, we trust; living like we know that such goodness is manifest all around us.
Where have you seen this goodness today?
American Alligator, Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, July 2013
The clever see danger and hide;
but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
Proverbs 22:3
I am not that clever.
I have a cat's curiosity with no lives to spare, but one life to give and sometimes to give it foolishly, and on one or two occasions, stupidly. I suppose some cynicism might help me - I feel it creeping in as I grow older, trying to get a foothold. But somewhere between the two poles of going on and hiding, I imagine most of us dwell, somewhat uncomfortably. We are called to lose our life to save it, to die to ourselves, to live for Christ. And there the path to freedom without fear may be found.
Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades National Park, July 2013
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19
For whom is God inviting you to pray these words?
Could you imagine simply adding a person's name before each "I" and then praying each day for someone new as you awake and pour your first cup of coffee? (OK, I drink tea, but you get the idea). I think it would change us, offering such a gift of prayer. Would you join me for the next week - and then post your reflection on the experience?
Butterfly, Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades National Park, July 2013
For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
Romans 3:22b-24
We look to another to weigh and measure,
to see if we are at least as good, if not better, we judging freely.
We seek a place in the world without guilt to nag us,
so we can focus on other things more important.
But here is the bitter truth:
our sin is our death, and we sin daily,
and sin is measured neither by degrees,
nor as compared to our neighbor or the newspaper's front page
or the banner headline across the screen.
Leaving self-justfication behind,
the endless work of trying to be good enough and failing,
and miserably so,
humbly we find redemption in being found by God
in Christ,
whose grace is more than sufficient,
God's love filling us, freeing us to love our neighbor,
rather than fixing them somewhere below us.
Blue Heron, Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades NAtional Park, July 2013
But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you
Isaiah 43:1-2a
We are God's.
Not indifferently or casually,
but as deep as love can be by one who knows our name,
and the inmost fears and the yearnings of our heart.
And so the waters may rise, swirl, flood,
but they will not, cannot overcome
such love as this.
Red-Shouldered Hawk, Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades National Park, July 2013
If you close your ear to the cry of the poor,
you will cry out and not be heard.
Proverbs 21:13
Any conversation about the poor today must start in relationship, not from endless repeating of someone else's assumptions, taken as fact. Until we roll up and sleeves and work along side them, leave the comfort of our homes and walk with them, until we bounce their children on our knee and behold within their eyes the dignity granted to all of God's people, we have no claim to make, no judgment to offer, no right to close our eyes and ears and hearts.
White Peacock Butterfly, Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades National Park, July 2013
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Psalm 27:8
With what do we choose to fill the vision of our days?
What imprints upon our memory?
What sounds become the song within our souls?
These are not idle questions.
