Sunday, August 28, 2011

Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfall




Re-arranging is very fun to me, and I like to do it. My husband however, hates re-arranging, so our furniture stays the same year after year. I have to get out those urges in different outlets. I have a few favored knick knacks around the house & I can swap them out, move them around & that gets me by.

I have a new favored knick-knack I really like I was going to sell on ebay, but I decided I liked it too much, so I decided to kept it. (I still have a pile of other stuff to sell) It is a bundle of aged, yellowed, vintage letters wrapped in red raffia like the bundle of letters that were Lady Deadlock's in Charles Dicken's Bleakhouse. When my grandmother died my sister & I made a mad dash to FL to r escue my Grandma's stuff from my step-mother who said she would just throw everything of Grandma's out. One of the deepest regrets I have is not going through her old letters. We went through the pictures & Dad let us have a few of those, but why, oh, why did I not think of her letters?! We did get our letters we'd sent to her, as they were on the bar, so I am thankful for that. My sister even found letters my mom wrote Grandma when my sister was a baby; what a find! But all those correspondences from my religious aunt in Pennsylvania escaped my notice. My favorites would have been the vintage cards, especially Valentines & Thanksgiving. Grandma would have saved all that & my step-mom who stayed much longer than we did, just threw it all out. Oh anyway, getting off that rabbit trail.
That is a one cent stamp! Dated 1948.
I realized this morning one of my favorite things to do is a 'key word search' on the Bible on line site. If you live in the word, & the Word lives in you, some verses are very special, like favored knick knacks that can be taken out & admired individually, moved around, put together here with this or that because it matches. Or it could just be moved to a different spot, say a window sill.

I think that is why I so love this site. It is the little devotional book (now turned website) Amy Carmichael read morning & evenings as a missionary who rescued little girls in India from being 'married to the gods.' It takes Bible verses from the 'house' of scripture & sets out a few 'pieces' that look good together & can be admired when coupled with other similar themed verses.

I went redecorating in my heart this morning because I couldn't sleep & my soul was brightened & refreshed at the re-arranging & re-decorating of these favored key-word-search verses. Maybe you won't enjoy them as much as I because the Bible is the Living Word & it meets you right where you're at. You're probably in a different place, but these verses can still be admired for their beauty.


Psalm 102:17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Job 42:6
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Psalm 102:17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.
Psalm 119:141 Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts.
Jeremiah 14:21 For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it.
Jeremiah 23:17 They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
Lamentations 1:11 All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. “Look, LORD, and consider, for I am despised.”
Matthew 18:10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
Luke 16:13 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
1 Corinthians 1:28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
1 Samuel 2:8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
Isaiah 25:4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.
Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

Just think of a word, any word on your mind, or in your troubles & do a key word search. I'll bet you'll find solace & re-freshment in your soul as you find little treasures in His word.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What can we give Him?

Excerpt from
A REQUIEM FOR LOVE an extended poetic depiction of the Creation narrative.
In this excerpt we have a "worship dialogue" between Regis (Adam) and
Earthmaker (God).

REGIS:
"Father, I receive Your gift of being, but
You have made me TOO rich
To name my wealth
And yet too poor
To give you anything of meaning.
I love you with only giftless love."

EARTHMAKER:
"Regis, there is no such thing as 'giftless' love.
The very words accuse each other.
My gift to you is love, but
Worship is your gift to Me.
And Oh, most glorious it is!
Worship always calls me 'Father' and
Makes us both rich with a common joy.
Worship Me, for only this great gift
Can set you free from the killing love of self,
And prick your fear with valliant courage
To fly in hope through moments of despair.
Worship will remind you
That no man knows completeness in himself.
Worship will teach you to speak your name,
When you've forgotten who you are.
Worship is duty and privilege,
Debt and grand inheritance at once.
Worship, therefore, at those midnights
When the stars hide.
Worship in the storms till love
Makes thunder whimper and grow quiet
And listen to your whispered hymns.
Worship and be free."

-Calvin Miller in A REQUIEM FOR LOVE, one of my all time favorites. I read it to my husband before we married.