The Weekly Encourager - May 1, 2011 - You have swept me away

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
You have swept me away with Your love
You have drenched me with Your goodness
You have given me the joy of Christian companions, rarely seen and much to be cherished.
You have showered on me the wondrous rain which opens the petals of life to new views, new insight,
a glimpse into Your grace in the lives of those I never met before.
Ripples on a pond,
touching lives of others I will never meet,
An endless circle of lives transformed,
dead hearts revived - the Tomb is Empty!
We each touch other lives, if only for a moment -
Your plan overarching all.
Again a small intimation that it's not all about me, or about the struggles of loved ones or strangers:
It's about You.  It's always about You,
only You.
A love song to the God of my life.

It is the Lord's Day, begun at sundown with a simple communion from the hands of a friend. 
"Sip or dip," she asks.
I have no choice, in truth, but to rejoice, even in parting.
We partake.  We part.
I drink You in through communion with Your people.

I go through my days in a fog of duties, distractions, disappointments,
"never enough time," never enough talk or too much talk.
This is the road I walk.
But sometimes, with no warning whatsoever, You choose to blow away the fog
With the gentlest of breezes, so that I behold the sun on the super-green new-mown grass,
hear the birds louder and nearer than ever before (the raccoons are gone),
feel no pain at the breaking of glass and mirror,
let the dishes rise on their teetering towers while I sit outside listening to brothers tell secret fears and secret hopes.
(Not what I planned for the day, but a gift.)

You give me a word of truth and a realization - O Glory! - that we are walking this road together, You and I.
And for a moment, these dear ones walk with me too,
But only now and then, that I would not learn to stand only by holding their hands, but by holding Yours.
The Paraclete, my True and Only Companion in this life and the next, is always with me.
And nothing in this life or the next can snatch me out of the Father's hand.

This is the message of Easter -
I don't have to do it on my own.
Success doesn't depend upon me, whether it's marriage, or career, getting over the past or getting on with the future.
When I am weak, He is strong.
My truest life is about letting go of me
and taking hold of Him.
The road to transcendence begins with taking off my shoes, for this is holy ground, humble ground.
Come as a child.

The well-turned soil of suffering becomes fertile ground for compassion, for relationship.
Only in Him is there a reason to go on for even one day.
So chop it up! Dig up the roots and toss out the rocks!
Prepare Your garden.

The Lord gave me a window into Heaven today.


Copyright 2011 Janet A. Marney