Learn the Rhythm

Push and pull, push and pull, back and forth, back and forth. The tide sucked at my feet and buried my toes as I stood at the edge of the shore with my children. The waves were strong. My footing had to be adjusted with each  pull and each push of the waves.

As I felt the rhythm pounding around me, beneath me, on me I wondered, how do I respond to the motion of life. The push and pull is constant. I wonder if I appropriately adjust my balance, leaning into the pull, stepping back with the push? Or do I respond as I always have, plowing through, headless of the changing tide?

Sometimes I go full throttle, riding with the forward motion and fighting the backward pull with all my might. I end up tired and worn out. Equally as frustrating, I pull back not knowing when to ride the fresh current, instead remaining withdrawn, missing the swell of adventure. Fighting the rhythm.

Retreat and advance, stillness and action, both are necessary in life. But I wonder if I've slowed to listen, dipping my toes in the water, long enough to learn the rhythm. God has given us clues. Our bodies, the seasons, night and day, his word, the Holy Spirit, our communities, all give us cues as to a healthy rhythm for our lives. 

The tide of life is a reality we can't afford to ignore. Loss and gain, work and rest, joy and sorrow, plenty and want, old and new, come and go, they are our teachers if we will listen, yielding ourselves to their pull. If we fight this ebb and flow of life we will end up weary, worn out from thrashing against waves that never relent. The Holy Spirit, through times of reflection and prayer, will lead us through the waves. God's word shows us how to respond. Are we listening? 

Watching my children play delightedly in the surf, their bodies rocking with the motion, I know there is joy in yielding to the tide. What waves are you fighting in your life at the moment? How can you adjust your balance to face the push and pull of your life?

Beauty Calls

Sometimes life pounds hard, zips past, and makes demands. Even if it's just the simple routine of work and dishes and bills. And sometimes, really all the time if we're listening, beauty calls out. Her voice isn't demanding though. It's gentle as a mother's, salty as an ocean breeze; full of nuance and flavor, whispering of rest, joy and healing. Beauty is a gift. God's gift, an intimate part of his created order. I wonder if enjoying his gift of beauty is a form of worship, an expression of thanks.

This Sunday, after the work and privilege of worshiping God, our family took time for the work and privilege of enjoying beauty, together. It was hot and we (okay me) snapped once or twice, but it was lovely and satisfying to be together. It's a whole other experience living near water, one that we're discovering the joys of bit by bit. These pictures were all taken in Pensacola, Florida, enjoy.

Our lunch view at The Fish House, best grits EVER!

My sassy southern belle!

I loved the artistry of this charming old church.

A peak inside.

Live oaks! Living poetry in a park.

Live oaks are prone to long limbs that break.
I love their solution to offering the trees support!

My water baby enjoying the splash of a pretty fountain.

Southern architecture delights my senses.
I love the balance and decorum of this house with it's cheery mustard walls.

Beauty makes us better. Where have you seen beauty lately? Won't you share with us how you answer beauty's call?

I hope

I hope this week you find rest like a child, even in the midst of busy days and heavy responsibility. Lean back on the arms of Grace that speak the "I've got you" strength of a father. All the lists in the world can't define you, or the completion of their tasks. Look for a cozy corner and dream like an innocent under dancing dragonflies.

I hope your days drip sunshine and ring with golden laughter. Even if you're in the snowy north. Laughter and joy can be as much of a discipline as contemplation and silence, and certainly just as necessary. May you make space to search for the shimmering moments, and soak them up.

I hope each day your face is set to the dazzling sunshine. I hope you meet it's bold gaze of glory like a warrior and it's brilliance burns it's way into your heart. I hope your feet are set on fire and you run headlong into glory. Knowing it's fire consumes, may you chase the light anyway.

I hope that this week your days are lived out with the knowledge that God's word is a lamp to your feet so that you won't stumble in darkness. That his love is satisfaction richer than any food. May you remember that worship fuels action and silence fuels intimacy. I hope that every opportunity to commune with your Love is taken and moments of thanksgiving are embraced!

Some thoughts...

I hope your Christmas celebration has been restful and satisfying. Our time during this holiday break has been sweetly spent as a family. I've enjoyed my children and the quiet times we've shared. We've appreciated having Chris home, eating yummy food, snuggling down during rainy weather. 


Now in the last couple of days as Chris has gone back to work, and we're telling the Christmas season goodbye, the weather has changed. The sun has come out and warmed us, waking us from our quiet cocoon. Yesterday was spent in the sand and water of the bay, what a treat. Today was spent at the park and library and later making fresh squeezed lemonade, from local lemons.


In this new season of our lives I'm constantly turning my ear to catch traces of the Father's voice leading. I find the need to reflect and quiet my heart, heal from old wounds, catch a fresh vision. Interestingly it seems that quiet time is being enforced by my Parent, to some degree. 


I struggle to let loose the voice I was carving out in blog land, connections I've enjoyed making, lessons learned. It's antithetical to me to be less visible and consistent as I work on completing my book and will need a platform from which to present it. And I will sorely miss the encouragement I find through your blogs chronicling your journey towards godliness, shared with candor and grace.


However, I don't have much choice. My own computer is showing it's age and is unable to connect to the internet anymore. My access will be limited to the occasional use of my husband's computer. So I'm not sure how frequently I will be posting or visiting your sites. Hopefully this situation is temporary, but it's hard to tell.


In the meantime, let me say, may "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace," in this New Year! (Numbers 6:24-26)

Rest

So we see that because of their (the Moses led, wandering Israelites)  unbelief they were not able to enter his rest... God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them (the old testament Hebrews). But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,“In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. Hebrews 3:19; 4:1-3

 I love the book of Hebrews and have traveled it's well worn pages many times. Yet finding rest bold and inviting among it's words is new to me. Faith, mediation, old and new covenants, torn veils, sacrifice, priesthood, blood, on and on and yet I don't think I would have added rest to the list of truths. Until now. The word has been whispered across my heart of late, REST, enter my presence for rest. Be with me, to rest. Believe, all of who I am, what I've promised, and in the believing find rest. Today.

The directness of the statement "the promise of entering his rest still stands" astounds me. It links us to those journeying Israelites wandering through the dessert, a journey that should have taken weeks instead of years. All because of unbelief. How many of us wander for a life span through our own desserts of unbelief, seeking rest and finding none. God says it need not be. "For only we who believe can enter his rest." It's there waiting, it always has been, for those pilgrims thousands of years ago. For us as pilgrims today.

"Some of you might fail to experience it" yes that should cause us to tremble in fear. Certainly the risk of being separated from God eternally is an implication, to never believe God is the source of soul rest is to never receive. Yet the author is addressing believers in the church. Could it be what makes his heart tremble is a person who has believed Jesus for salvation but hasn't entered into the rest of it, now. Is it possible the "fail to experience it" of verse one is referring to Christians who have not entered fully the rest God has for us in him for this life.

Many truths of the bible can be understood this way. Eternal life is for us now, the knowing of God is life; but also for later, the completely restored life on the other side of the grave. Holiness is for God's people now, it's commanded for this life; but we know we will never be completely holy until we've been glorified, having been consumed by his holiness in his very presence. The Kingdom of God is both a now and later, has come and is coming. So too I believe is rest. It is possible for our hearts in the midst of this turbulent world to know rest, and yet it's a foretaste of the great exhale of permanent Jesus rest that's coming.

It was giants that kept the Israelites from entering their place of rest, had they faced them with belief in God's promise of deliverance they would have entered the land of rest in a matter of weeks. What giants are you facing that threaten your rest? God's promise of rest still stands, good news for you and me, prepared and announced, waiting from the beginning of time. Believe. Will you go in?