one of the best Christmas songs ever...

"Penguin, James Penguin" ~ Brad Paisley

seeing

I've been aware that I've been sort of a mess lately... and my every inclination has been to SIFT, figure out, come to grips, etc, etc... trying to be a little less "messy" than I currently feel. Only it doesn't really work that way, I'm finding out.

So I've been living life at mach speed... taking very little time to slow down. For one thing, I don't HAVE very much time to slow down, but sometimes, I like it that way... because it saves me from having to sit in my own messiness. But then, this week, there's moments when I can hear His whisper, "Beth, are you willing to sit in your messiness if you know that I'm there too?"

I remembered today that I'm not invited to approach the Throne of Grace only when the craziness inside of me is quiet. No... I'm invited to COME even when I've been doing everything in my own power to quiet myself... and it's not working. Shoot, I just remembered that verse in Zephaniah 3-- "HE will quiet you with His love." I need Jesus to quiet me... as only He can.

And then He astounds me. There's moments, even while I'm running at mach speed, when I swear that He just shows up anyhow... like when the fall night sky is so crisp and so clear and the stars are just shining and Orion's belt looks like a big Hand and I could swear that it's His hand reaching for me. That's happened 2 nights in a row now. Or when I get together with a good friend and spending time with her is like spending time with Him... and she reminds me, even without actually saying it, that nothing can take me from the love of Jesus. Or when I come to another friend's house to watch her dog for the weekend... and that dog is so soft and cuddly and GENTLE... like somehow Jesus knew that I would really enjoy a cuddly, gentle dog. And especially when I'm working on a horribly loooooong research paper and I realize that the timing falls perfectly for a visit to my parents. I hole up with my laptop on their couch, my mom makes Christmas cookies and my dad makes me coffee, and I watch the snow falling outside. I think Jesus is in that too.

On the one hand, I might sound silly for seeing Jesus in stars and dogs and coffee... but I guess it's just part of His goodness that He shows up in all kinds of ways... reminding me that He is the lifter of my head... and that He loves when I see Him... in whatever form He might come. He really is very good.

Happy thanksgiving, friends.

there's more...

there's more that rises in the morning than the sun

and more that shines in the night than just the moon

there's more than just this fire here that keeps me warm

and a shelter that is larger than this room.

there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiment

and a music higher than the songs that i can sing.

the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance i owe only to the Giver of all good things.

if i stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through.

but if i can't, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You.

if i sing, let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs.

and if i weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home.

there's more that dances on the prairie than the wind

and more that pulses in the ocean than the tide.

there's a love that is fiercer than the love between friends,

gentler than a mother when her baby's at her side.

there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiment

and a music higher than the songs that i can sing.

the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance i owe only to the Giver of all good things.

if i stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through

but if i can't, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You.

if i sing, let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs.

and if i weep, let it be as a man who is longing for his home.

~rich mullins

the real thing

this challenges my heart...

"Jesus said you are to love one another as I have loved you, a love that will possibly lead to the bloody, anguished gift of yourself; a love that forgives seventy times seven, that keeps no score of wrongdoing. Jesus said this, this love, is the one criterion, the sole norm, the standard of discipleship in the New Israel of God. He said you're going to be identified as His disciples, not because of your church-going, Bible-toting, or song-singing. No, you'll be identified as his by one sign only: the deep and delicate respect for one another, the cordial love impregnated with reverence for the sacred dimension of the human personality because of the mysterious substitution of Christ for the Christian.

"The question is not can we heal others? The question, the only question is, will we let the healing power of the risen Jesus flow through us to reach and touch others, so that they may dream and fight and bear and run?"

~Guess who?

Brennan Manning =)