SIMPLY REJOICING 6: Befriend and Extend His Love

Embrace the World
"Epiphany encounters may open doors to enlarge your borders." (PL)


MONDAY, June 23  Prayers
     Not getting my thoughts in line this morning very fast as we sit and visit (Rick, my brother Mac, Mom and I) so I will post the prayer drawing I finished up instead!   Big prayers of thanks for Luke's eventual arrival home from GA yesterday, and for two Baker City families who suffered losses over the weekend:  Bulthius family (Kathy's death) and Bloomers (wildfire destroyed part of the ranch).  

SUNDAY, June 22  God Texts
Romans 1:19-20 MSG
The basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.

In the format of the famous LOVE postage stamp!

     Lewis continues the epiphany encounters concept with the challenge to walk through the doors God opens, and embrace the world one person at a time.  Good thoughts which I planned to expand upon today, but.....my encounters called differently! And I read the end of the Romans 1 chapter and found the part about God speaking through creation!
     On my beach walks the past couple days I have been looking for messages from God in letters formed by the seaweed, rocks, feathers, sticks, etc.  I have deliberately not altered things to form letters, but rather searched for them as God has created.  I looked for some time yesterday for an H, convinced that God wanted me to see one.  It took awhile, but finally H's began to emerge.  Did God answer my desire or did my vision improve?  
      Anyway.....I title these   "God-Texts" -  God is sending messages to our world.  Do we take notice?  

A little 'Hello' from God. 

SATURDAY, June 21  On Assignment
Romans 1:1 (MSG)
I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God’s words and acts. 
     'On assignment'.  It sounds like Paul is a newscaster sent to deliver the message from a distant shore.  And in reality?  Paul was sent to deliver THE Message, not back to Jerusalem, but to the people ON that distant shore.  
     Do we look at our faith as an assignment?  Or do we consider it more something personal that helps us live OUR life?  Little responsibility to be an active apostle.  Yet, the very act of sharing is what makes our faith journey have significance.  It is an area I don't always seek.  But we are challenged today to look for those moments in which God is opening the door to witness, to proclaim our relationship with God.  Lewis calls them 'epiphany encounters'.  Sometimes they are so brief that we miss the opportunity.  So watch for divine encounters with the world around you.  Watch for those moments when God seeks to unite us with another who is searching.  They may happen more often than we realize.  

  
Walk with Enlightened Vision
"A prayer walk can change your heart and direction." (PL)

FRIDAY, June 20     Constant Prayer

Ephesians 6:18 GNT

Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people.

     Pray always.  Pray on every occasion.  The thought just occurred to me that perhaps we should approach life as moments lived within a constant stream of prayer, rather than prayer as scattered moments during life.  It is a Celtic spirituality practice of constant conversation with God.  People say I talk to myself all the time.  What if all those conversations were truly directed toward God during the day?  (No, I can’t say they are at this point!)  Then when people ask me who I am talking to, I could simply say, God!  I like this.  (And it reminds me a bit of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, one of my favorite musicals!)

THURSDAY, June 19    
Prayer Walk

Ephesians 1:18  MSG

"I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do...."

      Author Lewis hits a sympathetic chord today with her musings about those of us who flit from one job to another as our mind races along.  Start this task, leave it to do something else, then another, and finally you had 10 half finished tasks and more of a mess than you started with!  (This frequently can happen when attempting what is known as 'cleaning'!)  We do this in our prayers as well....a lack of focus!  

      But while Paul in seeking focus in the Ephesians, we are also reminded to never become SO focused on one thing, that we miss God's call along with it!  Lewis suggests daily prayer walks as one way to center our lives and our prayers.  Walks that can not only help us reflect inward, but also walks that ask us to really SEE what is happening in our community and world.  Pray for the neighbor who is struggling, pray for that lonely walker across the path, pray for those who live in less than ideal circumstances. 

      Perhaps in the next few weeks I will take some prayerful walks on the beach!  Its not exactly my ‘neighborhood’, but definitely God’s!