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From this weekend's sermon:
The biblical call of what we do is always superseded by the challenge of who we are.
Other notes:
Be like Jesus.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. [Psalm 103:8]
Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat--
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
[Psalm 127:1-2]
Maybe that's why I feel as though not much is going on. There's not a whole lot of doing as I find myself in the midst of my own point vierge, waiting in a place that is the cusp between sleeping and waking, between darkness and light. It is a threshold, a doorway between who I was and who God has designed me to be.
Doing is not the point. Perhaps right now, obedience means sitting still. Waiting.
And so I will sit and wait, hands open: surrendering the old, ready to receive the new.
darkness & dawn photo by kirsten.michelle
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11 comments:
Totally there with you (but I think you already know that).
Some random musings...
I read ahead in Norris' book on the virgin martyrs, and I must say that I didn't really get it...there were some awesome things, and then bits that didn't make much sense...i need more time with it, i think.
In some ways, our whole life is a "becoming"--because only God "is" (being) and only critters "do" (doing without being something inside)...and we humans are stuck in this forever point vierge, as long as we're on this earth. At the same time, there are points in life where we are "becoming" more than others.
And becoming is such a bumpy road...for me, often filled with emotions that run close to the surface and outbursts of anger and tears that i don't entirely understand until later. i know it looks different for others, but there's always fighting. Open hands sounds so peaceful, but it's actually war.
Fight on, friend
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oh sarah. i am so there with you sister: frustration. anger. tears.
yes, yes, and yes.
this post is more a reminder to me than anything else: a reminder that God is about something [even though it feels like a whole lotta nothing right now], that He hasn't forgotten me [even though it really feels that way sometimes as He is decidedly quiet], that He has a particular purpose for me [even though it feels like He's scouring out my insides with an SOS pad right now & it hurts like hell].
open hands sounds peaceful, but that too hurts like hell.
can i get an amen?
be just like st. cecilia that you have in your picture. yet you are alive in Christ as He makes you into a new creation just like Pygmalion's story. yet in a good sense. May you be blessed as you wait on Him and have your wings renewed. scott
Kirsten,
I've also been thinking and (privately, for now) journaling about the being rather than doing tension. It's hard to find the balance.
Your thoughts remind me of the final lines from that Milton poem, "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent":
"That murmur, soon replies,'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke; they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.'"
amen, Amen, AMEN!
hello, my friend. i don't have answers for what God is doing under there in the quiet places, though i wish i did. i also wish there was some way to know how long you were going to have to sit in this place, as i know the waiting is the excruciating part.
as much as i wish i did, i don't have a lot of words. but you know i'll always fight on behalf of your being over doing . . . meaning, on behalf of your value that is intrinsic to you and not based on anything you do or don't do.
and dude, sarah's thoughts on being and becoming rock socks.
Oh, I love this on-the-verge picture. What stunning beauty here.
Thank you for reminding me that I need to spend more time in psalms. Oh what an amazing gift His love has been and what spectacular "paintings" He gives us. I have no clue why He loves me like this but every day is an amazing adventure as we "move to the rhythm of His grace". I'm in awe of how you can wait to seemingly patient for His will to be shown and presented to you. He knows us so well because I don't think that he would do that with me due to my can't stop moving attitude. Speaking of His will....how is the offline writing going? You do know that I will kindle that fire if you let it stay unattended, don't you? Maybe I'll have to start trading coffee for writes....
Be blessed my sister, I pray that you are sleeping deep and wake feeling fresh and new (for an old lady);o)
it's been good to know in this time when doing isn't even an option that i am more than that. thanks for keeping this in front of me. love you so much.
I can't tell you how much I love this photo.
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