Random ABC's, Random God-Messages

This post contains devotions on days when I have no book, no focus, just a keen eye for Creation-Sent letters.  From that I take the ABC Quick Write format from my writer cousin, Lorraine Tom.  I will limit my word list to around 10 words. 

8.30.15  H is for Habitat for Humanity

H  Habitat, Humanity, House, Home, Harmony, Hew, Heritage, Hinge, Hilarious, Hoist, Humor, Hortatory (giving encouragement), Humility, Hospitality, Hardhat, Hammer

James 2:14,17-18  MSG

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?  Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? ….Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?.... You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works.  Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

            I saved the H for last because today we start a new HABITAT for HUMANITY build in Kalispell, Montana to work on the Kearney family HOME and begin the foundations for two more HOUSES in the subdivision.  This particular Bible passage is the one Rick always uses when it is his turn for morning devotions.  Building HOUSES is how we put our faith into action.  We enjoy the HOSPITALITY of the HABITAT affiliate, we enjoy the HUMOR and HARMONY of our fellow Care-a-Vanners.  It isn’t always easy work.  Preparing the foundation structure for the pouring of the concrete is backbreaking labor, HOISTING 4x8 form boards covered with soy oil.  But to work side-by-side with the HOMEOWNER, to get to know the family that will move in, personalizes the whole experience and fills me with HUMILITY for the many blessings I enjoy.  So tomorrow I will don my bright pink HARDHAT and HEFT my HAMMER and get to work! 

            I don’t have internet as I work on this post.  It was pretty HILARIOUS as Rick and I brainstormed to come up with possible pictures for the prayer letter.  Look hard and see if you can find the HIVE with HONEY, the HAIRY HORSE with HAY, a HAND filled with HUCKLEBERRIES, and a HEAD wearing a HARDHAT!  No unusual or rare words this time around! 

            We took a walk this afternoon upon arriving at our campsite.  I sought an H and a Z to finish up the alphabet.  Eventually I found both, the former as God lit up the sky after a rainstorm and blessed us with fresh air, sunset pink clouds, and a sense of peace to begin our work. 

8.29.15  Z is for ZETA

Z Zeal, Zest, Zephyr, Zenith, Zaftig, Zipper, Zapata, Zarf, Zenography, Zeta, Zuppa , Zumbador (South American hummingbird), Zyzzyva, Zephyranth 

    Almost to the end of my random ABC postings.  I have saved the letter H for tomorrow (you’ll understand why!)  Again, Phrontistery.com provided some terrific learning opportunities beyond ZEAL and ZEST which are how I hope I can approach life!  I have a ZAFTIG figure (well-rounded or plump!) but Jim Kauth has a ZAPATA (a drooping mustache).  I like ZUPPA which is a fish soup, but I probably just call it chowder!  In astronomical terms, ZENITH is the point directly overhead and ZENOGRAPHY is the study of the planet Jupiter (does that have a correlation to ZEUS, the Greek term for Jupiter?)  ZINNIAS and ZEPHYRANTH are beautiful flowers. Who has heard of a ZARF, a decorative holder for one's coffee cup??  The most amazing word I discovered was ZYZZYVA, often the last word in an English dictionary!  It is a bright red weevil found in the tropical Americas! 

Matthew 9:15 MSG

 But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left.

 

           I found one new Z word, ZETA, which actually tied into a meeting I had this past week at the church.  The word means a small room or closet in a church building.  When I googled it to confirm the definition, I came to a posting from a pastor who was using it for ABC’s to the Church Children.  He said a church should have no ‘secret ZETAS’ in regard to the safety of the children;  no place where adults could be alone with a child.  Last Tuesday we attended our Child Safety Training for all volunteers who work with kids with the key reminder being ‘never be alone with a child’ for their safety and ours.  I find it hard to realize we live in a world where such mandates must be made, where trust has been broken on both sides so often to warrant rules.  But I will remember ZETA because it does have a practical link to our everyday life!  And a ZEAL to advocate for the children!   Now to ZIP this up and get on the road! 

  

8.28.15  Q is for QUIET

Had to 'borrow' a Q from
my Alpine ABC files!

Q  Quiet, Quaint, Quick, Quandary, Quantum, Quest, Quench, Quirk, Quiff (Light puff of wind), Quinoa, Quartz, Quetzal, Quixotic, Quab (Throb or quiver), Quahog (clam), Quatsch (Nonsense) Quail,  Quink (gray goose) Quinnat (King salmon), Quince. 

            I have put off the Q thinking it would be a short list like the X.  But again, I found so many common words, plus all the QUAINT and QUIRKY words from Phronistery.com.  While I have heard of QUAHOG clams, QUAIL and the QUETZAL bird,  QUINNAT salmon or the gray goose QUINK were new to me.  I never realized QUAB meant to throb or QUIVER, or that a QUIFF of wind is a light puff of a gentle breeze!  And instead of uttering ‘Nonsense!’ when someone says something silly, I can QUICKLY say ‘O QUATSCH!’ instead!  Then there is QUINOA.  That’s familiar, but I never knew it was the seeds from a goosefoot plant. Does that mean QUINOA comes from a QUINK-foot plant??  QUANTUM? In physics it is a tiny particle of energy, but it is often used as a general big amount!  I might be in a QUANDRY in my QWEST to QUENCH my Q appetite! 

Matthew 6:6 MSG

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

Psalm 55:4-8 MSG

My insides are turned inside out; specters of death have me down. I shake with fear, I shudder from head to foot. ….I want some peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country, I want a cabin in the woods. I’m desperate for a change from rage and stormy weather.

            Seriously, however, I find myself drawn to QUIET.  Jesus modeled the need to find a secluded, quiet place to be alone with God.  Time to pray, to listen.  Time to be apart from the busy of life and sense the peace of God.  Time to QUENCH our soul.  Psalmist David wrote often of the same urgency.  We must step away from the stress and demands of life to recharge in the QUIETUDE of God.  That is a good QWEST to have. 

8.27.15  P is for Praise and Prayer

P  Praise, Prayer, Paradox, Pastoral, Pinnacle, Peace, Pliable, Prevalent, Primitive, Pristine, Propensity,  Pachyderm, Pangram (ABC sentence), Panivore (Bread Eater), Pelology (Study of Mud!)

Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

Don't fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God's peace, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.            

           Such a PLETHORA of words for P!  I looked in both the SAT list and PHRONTISTERY.com which is a site for unusual and uncommon words.  I could be here all day, so I only wrote down a few.  I learned that the sentences I composed for my calligraphy classes were called PANGRAMS, sentences that contained all the letters of the alphabet.  We finally have a word to describe what Jed seemed to be early in life – a PANIVORE!  He could live on bread alone, despite what the Bible says!  And then I found it amazing there was a word for the study of the curative powers of mud.  PELOLOGY.  Does that mean most toddlers are PELOLOGISTS? 

            Yet despite the PROPENSITY and PREVALENCE of P words from on-line sources, today the Bible PROVIDED PLENTY of P’s in just one short PASSAGE.  And what PROMINENT and PARAMOUNT P’s they are: PEACE, PRAYER, PRAISE!  What more can we ask for?  PAUL says it all in his message to the PHILIPPIANS: Don’t worry. PRAY. PRAISE God.  PETITION God in PRAYER and you’ll find the PEACE of God.  So I will POLISH this off and write a few PRAISES on my God-Moments list, and then PORTRAY my PRAYERS in a PICTURE.  PEACE for the day. 

8.26.15  X is for XENOPHILIA

X  Xeric, xeriscape, xebec, xenoliths, xanthic , xylem xanthan gum, xerox, xenophoboia, xenophilia, xylology, xenogamy, xenial. Xenia, Xylosma, Xylophone, xyris (marshy plant yellow flower),

Matthew 9:12-13 MSG

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

            Well, I thought X would be a hard day, but there are so many X words I have NEVER heard of!  When you realize many of them are based on the same prefix, they all make sense.  Learning that XYLOLOGY is the study of wood  and XYLEM is woody tissue means that a XYLOPHONE is sound from wood!  XERIC is deficient in moisture, hence we have XERISCAPING or landscaping that minimizes extra watering.  Rick always kids me about my specific terms for colors….just wait until I tell him something looks rather XANTHIC because it is yellow!  I hope my pirate loving niece knows the word XEBEC which is a small pirate ship!  And lastly, what better X word than XEROX photocopies – it begins and ends with X!

            But I gravitate to the XENO words, XENO a prefix referring to foreign.  A XENOLITH is a rock of a different source embedded in volcanic material.  XENOGAMY is cross-fertilization between species. XENIAL refers to hospitality with guests who are strangers.  And of course we have XENOPHILIA and XENOPHOBIA – the love of or the fear of foreigners.  It is the last word that I fear.  We fear or treat differently that which we don’t understand or know.  It seems we Americans often are XENOPHOBIC because we isolate ourselves and concern ourselves selfishly with our own lives.  We want to close our borders and keep the outsiders out.  It makes me think of the Biblical relationship between the Israelites and the Gentiles.  Jesus calls us to be XENOPHILIACS!  The call of Christ is to reach out to the foreigners, to minister to those we don’t know. 

            Which suffix at the end of XENO- am I?  -Philiac or Phobic?   Do my actions mirror my description?

8.25.15  K is for KINETIC

K  WORD LIST: Kinetic, Knoll, Knowledge, Kinship, Kindness, Kebbie (shepherd’s crook), Kiwi, Kerygma, Kaleidoscope, Knitch (bundle of wood), Kudzu, Kolhrabi 

Acts 17:27-28 VOICE

Yet, in truth, God is not far from any of us. For you know the saying, “We live in God; we move in God; we exist in God.” 

RATS!  I forgot to include a KEBBIE and a KNITCH
on my K prayer picture!  

          K is a rather fun letter – there are so many unusual K words like KEBBIE (a shepherd’s crook) and KNITCH (a bundle of wood).  Tasty K foods abound, most of them laden with calories: KITKAT and KRACKLE candy bars, KLONDIKE ice cream bars, and KRISPY KREME donuts!  Down-Under animals include favorites such as KOALAS and KANGAROOS, plus the non-flying KIWI bird!  KALEIDOSCOPES and KITCES are  fun and colorful toys!  A couple years ago, Rick and I were introduced to the KUDZU plant while traveling in the southeast - an invasive species that covers everything, but it has pretty flowers!  On a more spiritual vein, KERYGMA defines the early preaching of the Christian gospel and KINDNESS is a Fruit of the Spirit.

            But I love the word KINETIC!  A word of movement and motion!  I love KINETIC art: sculptures and mobiles that twist and turn with the slightest breeze.  I studied KINESIOLOGY in college, the movement of the human body.  Principles of physics say a body in motion stays in motion.  That makes me think of my Mom, who at 95 ½ is trying to ‘stay in motion’, realizing that if she stops, she might not start again!  Can we keep moving toward greater KINDNESS?  Can we move toward justice and equality, both socially and economically, for all?  Is there a time to stop moving and let the Spirit move within us? KINETICS!  Motion!  Maybe I should get up off the couch and be KINETIC today!  

8.24.15 G is for GENIA

G  WORD LIST: Giant, Gratitude, Give, Grace,  Galvanize, Garnish, Genia, Genial, Genuine, Glacier, Giggles and Guffaws, Gingerly, Glimmer, Gossamer  

Colossians 3:16  MSG

Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.

            Today our friend GENIA and her husband Steve are traveling to Houston, TX, to meet with renowned cancer specialists in treating her advanced ovarian (?) cancer.  This GIANT-hearted woman is as GENUINE and GRACIOUS as they come, filled with infectious GIGGLES and GUFFAWS, and always acknowledging GRATITUDE for GOD’s GRACE and presence in her life.  Her job is GIVING: information and assistance to those in need, GALVANIZING the community to act for the benefit of all.  We met this amazing family on our Care-a-Vanner build for Habitat in Columbia Falls, originally selected due to its proximity to GLACIER National Park.  Now we return for the people, GARNISHED with the lure of GOD’S incredible creation! 

            GOD’S blessings and GRACE be with both GENIA and Steve this week, that they return next Sunday with renewed hope, encouragement, and peace.  

8.23.15  Y is for YAHWEH

Y  Yellow,  Yahoo, Yahweh,  Yin and Yang (Taoist), Yana (Sanskrit for path), Yoga (Hindu meditation), Yuval (fresh water stream, first musician/artist mentioned in Bible), Yarmulke (Jewish cap), Yearn, Yoke , yardage,  yolk, yu (precious jade),  

Psalm 8:1 (Hollman Standard Christian Bible)

Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty.

Psalm 33:22 (HSCB)

May Your faithful love rest on us, Yahweh, for we put our hope in You.    

   

          Wow!  What an education!  The second best letter found yesterday on my walk was a Y, so I decided to see where it would lead me today.  The SAT Word list was VERY short, and all the animals started with YELLOW (except YAK!)  So I goggled ‘Cool Y Words’ and discovered a list filled with references from a wide variety of religions.  I googled Biblical Y words and found more.  But since YAHWEH is the Hebrew word for God, I want to concentrate there.  I went to my BibleGateway site and found only ONE translation that uses the original Hebrew term for GOD!  All my usual translations came up blank; even the King James!  Most substitute the term Adonai or LORD in place of YHWH (the Hebrew version).

          So I did a little research on YAHWEH.  Controversy!  One source says it is not original, that YEHOVA (Jehovah!) is original.  Another sites a discovery dated from 600 BC that clearly spells out YHWH, but to say the word was suppressed in holy respect.  This particular author indicates the verbal suppression led to the written suppression evident in so many translations.  Technically the Hebrew translation means I AM WHO I AM, or simply I AM.  I most appreciated the author who said, ‘God is so much more than His name, He is more than can be described.’ 

          So… I think I will continue to YEARN for and YOKE myself with YAHWEH!  

8.22.15   F is for FAITH and FIRE

F  WORD LIST: Friendship, Fellowship, Faith, Fire, Fun, Flora & Fauna, Fervent, Firmament, Foster, Fragrant, Frolic, Fiddleheads

I encountered my F walking home
from my early morning hair appointment.

Luke 12:49 MSG

“I’ve come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up...
James 3:5-6 MSG
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that.  By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.  

            I awoke this morning to discover the skies are again gray and heavy, the air laden with the smell of smoke and ash.  Somewhere last night, the changing winds FANNED the FLAMES of the FIRES once again.  We had a brief reprieve of several days in our two week FIRE FIGHT in Baker County.  There are FIRES burning the FLORA and FAUNA of Washington, Idaho, California, Montana.  The whole Pacific Northwest seems to be in FLAMES.  FIREFIGHTERS are pouring in from around the world to help.  We must continue to support one another and have FAITH that God is indeed with us.

            FAITH and FIRE are often linked in the New Testament with FIRE representing the Holy Spirit.  In such cases we want to FAN the FLAMES,  we want the Spirit at work within us.  FIRES can catch with the tiniest of sparks, travel rapidly just licking the tops of trees and brush enough to catch and move on.  Can our Spirit FIRE move likewise, spreading embers of God, lighting the spark of the Spirit among all we encounter?  Do we have the FAITH that God burns hot enough within us to ignite others? 
            While the FIRES burn, I am going to concentrate on the positive aspects of FIRE, and FERVENTLY FOSTER my FAITH through the turmoil.  

8.21.15  S is for SERVICE and SHARING

The S today was created more by
SHADOW than SUBSTANCE! 

s Word List:  Service, Sophia, Share, Sacrifice, Settle, Shift,  Seamless, Serendipity, Sobriety, Solitude, Spontaneous, Sister, Smoke

Hebrews 13:16 MSG
Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

          I have used up the three letters I found in SALEM, but a good neighbor has been moving over the past few days.  Her name is SOPHIA and she doesn't want to re-SETTLE in with other family.  She has been busy packing to SHIFT her home to another SEVERAL blocks away.  It will be a SACRIFICE of her SOLITUDE and independence.  I feel for her and am unable to help in any way other than SUPPORT and encouragement, and to SERVE as a listening post. (Not to mention a STACK of newspapers to wrap her valuables!) 
           S words resonate currently as my brother works for SOBRIETY, my SISTER amazing in her SEAMLESS SUPPORT and the SERVICES they are SHARING back and forth in that SITUATION.  When we SHARE, when we SERVE, when we SACRIFICE our personal desires for that of others, we often will find the SERENDIPITY that arises from SUCH a SPONTANEOUS action.  But ultimately?  We SHARE, we SERVE, we SACRIFICE because that is what God does for us.  It is one way to SAY 'Thank You, God!'   

8.20.15 J is for JOY

J Word List:  Jedediah, Joy, Jargon, Jest, Job, Justice, Jollity, Juxtapose, Jovial, Jazz, Jinx, Junk, Jump

Psalm 28:6-7 MSG
Blessed be God— he heard me praying. He proved he’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with him. Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to him.

          I will take the opportunity this morning to complete the triad of letters I found last Tuesday morning outside JED'S apartment.  When I see the letter J, the first word that usually pops into my mind (besides JED!) is JOY. At the moment, JED'S JOY in particular.  When I came upon this scripture passage, I thought, 'JED could have written that!'  He is so excited, so JUMPING for JOY at the start of his new JOB at Willamette University.  He is filled to the brim with thanksgiving.
          J abounds with JOLLY words, such as JESTand JOVIAL.  They are words filled with JOY, words describing people filled with JOY.  God doesn't make JUNK!  When we fill ourselves with God and God-service, JOY is the end result!  


8.19.15  A is for AMELIORATE 

A Word List:  Adorn, Acme, Affable, Advocacy, Alacrity (liveliness and eagerness), Ameliorate (to make better), Anthropomorphic, Aptitude, Ardent, Abstract,  

Proverbs 10:22 MSG

God’s blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God.

AMELIORATE.  What a great word that can sum up much of the rest of my list.  We AMELIORATE our lives if we are AFFABLE and ARDENT, if we have an APTITUDE for ADVOCACY, if we APPROACH our ACTIONS with ALACRITY!  To AMELIORATE means to make better, to improve.  How can we AMELIORATE the living conditions of others?  How can we improve our relationship with God?  How can we ADORN our days with an ATTITUDE of gratitude and thanksgiving?  Our ACTIONS need not be great in magnitude, simply deliberate daily ATTEMPTS to AMELIORATE a hardship for ANOTHER.  

8.18.15  T is for TEACH and TRAVEL

T Word List: Travel, Teach, Tactile, temerity (fearless daring), tessellation, thermal, thrive,  torque, tout (loudly promote in positive terms), Translucent

              

Psalm 143:8-9 MSG

Point out the road I must travel; I’m all ears, all eyes before you....Teach me how to live to please you, because you’re my God. 

I found the T for Travel right behind our
car parked at Jed's apartment.  

 I took a short walk this morning from Jed’s apartment in search of a letter.  I found three: J, A, and T.  Which to use?  I prepared the word lists for all of them while waiting for Rick and Jed to arise.  The J seemed appropriate for JED!  The T for teach, his new career, or travel, what we will do this day.   And the A was the first letter I found!  Hmmmm.

               So.... T is for TEACH and TRAVEL !  It occurred to me that there is much that TRAVEL can TEACH us.  We learn of new cultures and ideas.  If we approach our TRAVEL with TEMERITY we will discover that all people TOGETHER can TESSELLATE into one world, one family under GOD.  We all have a piece in the puzzle, and that we includes the non-humans of the natural world.  How can we THRIVE as one?

               In a similar THOUGHT, Jed will be TEACHING physics – the laws of how our world works TOGETHER or TESSELATES.  He might be using TERMS like TORQUE and TENSION, THERMAL and TAUON, but it still all goes back to the amazing interconnection between all life on earth.  That’s pretty heady stuff.  Let it not be said that science and the spiritual don’t mix!  Each is TRANSLUCENT to the other, we can see God veiled behind all science and we can see the science with the spirit. 

8.17.15  C is for CLEAR and COLORFUL

C Word List:  Clear, Color, Clam, Crab, Chowder, Crystal, Cloudless, Crest, Cling, Curve

Genesis 9:13 MSG

I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. 

(Note….I actually wrote this yesterday FOR today, as I knew we would be leaving early this morning from Bandon and had a busy day with Jed planned.)

                I went out this morning looking for a letter. What message did God have in store for me?   I found a gentle curve CURVE in the sand from one of the sand critters and my first thought was “There is a U. I already have a U.”  But I changed my focus and of course realized it was also a C.  I shook my head and muttered, ‘Couldn’t you make it a little more CLEAR, God?’  Then I realized….C…CLEAR! God had made it CLEAR!  As I rounded the corner of the giant rock seastack, I found a great expanse of flat beach with a skim of water on top.  The other day I danced with the divine on that water, the CLOUDS reflecting so I felt I could walk on them.  Today, the skies are CLOUDLESS and CLEAR.  I couldn’t see the ‘divine’.  And it occurred to me that often when our lives are CLEAR from the CHAOS and CONFUSION, we fail to see God at work.  When things are good, who needs to look?  But when the CLOUDS of life move in, we are able to feel God’s presence in a more tangible way.  I want to work to see God in it all….CREATION waves CRESTING, starfish CLINGING to the rocks, CRABS and CLAM CHOWDER…God is present.  Yes, that is very CLEAR….

               ….and so very COLORFUL!  I stopped to investigate some COLORFUL anomalies on the rocks this morning and discovered some unusual and unnamed critters living there among the anenomes and starfish.  I marveled at the purple and orange of the seastars, the green of the anenomes, the rich blue-greens and whites of the surf, blues of sky and water.  I love COLOR!  Perhaps that is why I own so very little white clothing.  I tie-dye everything from shoelaces to underwear, shirts and socks to towels!  The brighter the better!  I appreciate the nuances of COLOR God uses to paint the CREATED world of nature.  I love that one of God's symbols is the rainbow - the full spectrum of COLOR that comes packed with a promise:  I love you.  Thanks, God, for the constant reminder. 

8.16.15 D is for DECIPERHING the DIVINE

D Word List: Decay, death, despair, devoid, deep, dappled, divine, depressing, decipher, discover

Ephesians 5:13-14 VOICE
When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light.  This is why they sing,
     Awake, you sleeper!  Rise from your grace,
     And the Anointed One will shine on you. 

           Earlier this week on the beach the words that kept coming to mind for this visit were DEATH and DECAY, the beach DEVOID of life.  I had seen few starfish and relatively few anenomes.  The beach was flush with DEAD birds, bits and pieces of crab parts, clumps of barnacles and mussels.  There was little seaweed washed up, few rocks and shells.  It was just a little DEPRESSING! 

   

Sand critter carved D

       But yesterday morning, as I walked and pondered those D words, I DISCOVERED a D, etched in the sand by a small critter.  I think it was a DIVINE moment, for then I realized the incredible beauty of the new DAY’S DAWNING.  While on Friday the skies were DAMP and DARK, Saturday God-light was streaming from the east, illuminating every crack and crevice of rock. The world was lit up!   Creatures appeared everywhere (ok, so perhaps the low tide had something to do with this!) – enough starfish I didn’t bother to count, anenomes of gargantuan size.  Birds were everywhere, singing the melody of sea life.  People were everywhere, DISCOVERING the DELIGHTFUL beauty of the ocean. I realized there was a DIVINITY in all I was experiencing this DAWN.  

            Halfway through my walk, the sun DISAPPEARED momentarily behind the clouds, DAPPLED bursts of light DANCING on the reflective waters of the sand.  I felt like I was suddenly walking on the clouds, especially when I  focused DEEPER below my feet on the cloud patterns.  Is this what heaven is like?  To walk on the clouds above all, apart yet one?  I was almost giddy with DELIGHT as I tiptoed, then DANCED, then twirled in joy.  I nearly called my pastor Katy, because this was a moment she would appreciate, a touch with the DIVINE. 

            Thank you, God, for the DIVINE D’s of our life.  Thank you, God, for helping us DECIPHER what we experience and find the DIVINE. 

8.15.15  W is for WHIMSICAL
Ten W Words: Watermelon, Waves of Water, Wait, Wildfire, Watch, Wafting Wisps, Wander, Wade, Whimsical, Wizardry.

The W I found on the beach. 

1 John 4:19 MSG
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.       

        I discovered a W on the beach yesterday morning.  It was created from seaWEED.  I continued to WANDER the shore, WADING through the ebb and flow of the WAVES, marveling at the WIZARDRY of our Creative God.  WISPS of drifting clouds WAFTED across the sky, dancing with the rising sun in a peek-a-boo game of light.  My mind, however, was in Baker Valley, a WATCH and WAIT period as WILDFIRES continue to burn, evacuating friends and church community, burning land on others, and escalating the county into a crisis unseen in recent years (save the WATER contaminant from two years ago perhaps!)  I WORRY for the safety of the crews, the safety of homeowners, hoping for a slow soaking downpour of WATER, but knowing that all is in God's hands.  I worried while I cut up a ripe WATERMELON last night and tasted of its juicy sweetness.
        With that dichotomy of peace and chaos, I focus on WHIMSICAL.  Defined as 'determined by chance or impulse, rather than necessity' I love the GOD-grace of WHIMSY.  God doesn't have to love us, God doesn't have to care.  God has plenty of universe to worry about, it isn't necessary to spend time with each of us.  But God does.  Perhaps not by chance or impulse, but because of WHO God is.  WHIMSICAL love means doing kindness for no reason, impulsive love, radical love.  When the opportunity arises to bestow love, do it!  It doesn't have to be necessary or expected.  Sudden, random love is much like the grace of God. 

Lent 2015: Week 2

Tuesday, Feb. 24  Prayer: GRATITUDE
Hebrews 12:28 CEB
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken, let's continue to express our gratitude.  With this gratitude, let's serve in a way that is pleasing to God with respect and awe.  
2 Corinthians 4:15 CEB
As grace increases to benefit more and more people, it will cause gratitude to increase, which results in God's glory.  
     I have spent alot of time in the last few months writing, reading, and thinking about gratitude. About grace and thanks and acknowledging God at work over and over again in our lives.  This should be the first part of EVERY prayer, before we wade into the help me and help them and all that other stuff.  
     Today's drawing simplifies GRATITUDE to Thank You - it was easier to fit together!  At least 5 of the letters are filled with those things for which I am grateful. The rest are intercessory prayers.   

Wednesday, Feb 25.    A Centering Place
Genesis 1:31 MSG
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!
Mark 1:9-11 MSG
At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God's Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him.  Along with the Spirit, a voice: 'You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."
     These scriptures were the text for Katy's sermon last Sunday and the overall idea for this image was penciled on the back of my bulletin. I love the thought of heaven opening, God parting the Rainbow of Promise and bringing the holy within reach of us all.  
     Then I was reading a book by Sue Monk Kidd titled 'God's Joyful Surprise' and I found her describing Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel scene of God stretching out to touch Adam in the Creation story.  Both scripture and prose came together for me.  Kidd is writing of a time of turbulent spiritual decisions in her personal life as she struggled to center herself in God, to find a Centering Place.  I found her descriptions inspiring and thought provoking: 

      In the waiting room of a doctor's office one day I saw a copy of one tiny piece of Michelangelo's painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  It showed God's hand with one finger reaching out and Adam's hand with one finger extending back toward God's.  Their fingers are almost touching but not quite.  The tiniest space is left between them.  I remember staring at the picture while I waited for the doctor.  For some reason my attention was drawn away from the fingers to the space between them.  It brought to mind at the time the gulf of separation between human beings and God.        But maybe there is a different way to view that space.  The mysterious inch on the fresco could as easily be where God and humans reach their fingers into a common space.  It could speak to us of the place where our lives touch and mingle with God's.  A shared space, a center.        A center is not simply an inner place where you are in touch with God's presence.  Most important, it is a space from which you can focus your entire life.  Being centered is not so much a state of being as a point of beginning.  ......I don't think for a minute that a centered life is the solution to all our problems.  Rather it is a way to respond to our problems.  We don't withdraw from the world to a center.  We respond to the world from our center.       Instead of rushing about, accepting every job that comes, we get a sense of what's really important.  Being centered allows us to bring that elusive quality of focus to our lives.  It enables us to set priorities.  From the center we can respond to the chaos by eliminating that which isn't meaningful and bringing order and calm to the rest.  For in the center we are rooted in God's love.  In such a place there is no need for striving and impatience and dashing about seeking approval.       We need not avoid our active lives, but simply bring to them a new vision and shift of gravity.  We are called to live a life rich and full, but rooted firmly in the center where all is drawn together in God and then flows out of His presence.  That is when life becomes the silent dance revolving around Him, alive with the music of His love.  

      I thought of God reaching to touch Jesus in his baptism - the space between filled with the Spirit of God, the dove, the space of our intermingling. So many images and thoughts surround this concept....more to ponder.  In the meantime, prayers were penned into the rainbow, the promise that God listens to each and every one of them. 


Thursday, Feb 26.    Fasting: Drink Only Water Today
John 7:38 CEB
All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.”

            At first this drawing was conceived somewhat as the living water erupting from Jesus as in this passage he is describing himself.  But this morning I woke up still with the concept of centering in God in relation to the living waters.  I pictured God as the well we sit and live from, offering us a steady supply of life-giving water.  We can drink of it whenever we want and need.  We can start our day at the well; we can sit there in the evening.  Today’s challenge for Lent was to drink only water. I did pretty well….no wine this evening, water refills at the rest stops, and just a VERY light sprinkling of instant coffee in my cup this morning.  (Those who know me well can only imagine how watery I could conceive WEAK coffee as I never make it very strong to begin with!)

            Water is the one essential in our physical life.  Perhaps living water is the one essential in our spiritual life as well.  

Friday, Feb. 27  Prayer: JESUS
Matthew 1:21 MSG
She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” 

            When the Lent calendar proposed pondering the name of Jesus I had to go online and find a list of all the terms used for the Son of God.  I found listings of over 200 names!  I will limit my discoveries to some of the more common ones:   Christ, Redeemer, Saviour, Yeshua, Immanuel, Alpha and Omega, Lamb of God, Good Shepherd, Bread of Life, Messiah, Jehovah, The Word.

            The name Jesus itself comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua – a combination of Yahweh and Joshua.  The words means ‘to save’.  The names link Jesus both to God and to the Hebrew people.

            Many of the terms above describe Jesus’ role on earth and his purpose while human.  My prayer drawing began with a design I have often seen in necklaces, etc: the word Jesus in the shape of the cross.  This being Lent I pictured the Passion on it…nails and a crown of thorns.  But I am a ‘Resurrected Christ’ type of person and I needed the hope of the Eternal Jesus, so butterfly symbols of resurrection were added!  

Saturday, Feb. 28  CONVERSION: A Journey of Many Layers

 The word leaped into my head.  Conversion?  How strange I would think of that.  My interpretation of my own tradition was that the grace of God came in one great dose as we accepted Christ into our lives and were born again.  It was a one-time negotiation in which grace arrived in a lump sum.  Conversion then was more or less over.  There was nothing left to do except come to church, live for God and get other people to discover Him.  But what if conversion, this turning of the heart to God, is a gradual, ongoing process that begins at that great outpouring of grace and then continues on?  Is it possible that awakening to God is the continuation of conversion?     That means that conversion is a process of growth and change.  It begins with God and goes on silently within us, flowering out at certain unique times as He calls us to decisive moments, rediscovery, awakening, just as that initial moment of conversion did.  (Sue Monk Kidd in God's Joyful Surprise) 

      I will deviate again today from the Lenten Calendar and take another look at Sue Monk Kidd's book. She is struggling spiritually as God calls her into a deeper relationship.  This passage, along with my recent Session opening describing my 'call' or conversion moment as a journey merged into an image that was reinforced by yesterday's drive through the myriad of mountain ranges creating shadows and silhouettes that were unending. Our conversion is not just a moment, but a step by step growth in faith.  Very few people have a Saul-Paul moment of absolute turn-around.  We peel back layers of God as we journey through life.  We drive deeper into the hills and discover a richer and fuller relationship with the Almighty.  For Session I drew a scribble of my 'awakening rocks' along the river of life.  Today I draw the layers of mountains that call us to deeper relationships.  And perhaps a Saguaro God that stands guard, watches, waits, and guides us all along the way.  
 
Sunday, Mar 1  Service: Tend God's Earth
1 Cor 6:9-11 (Selections)
Those who use and abuse each other, ..... use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom.

     Whoa....I opened a can of worms this morning when I began googling Conservation Theology or Ecotheology.  I found all sorts of 'new story' proposals, many of which involve more the Creation Theology models, plus alot I just didn't understand the terminology to know what they were talking about.  I did find this  2nd century quote interesting, but I haven't figured out just what he is trying to say.  

"God delays causing the confusion and destruction of the whole world...because of the seed of the Christians, who know that they are the cause of preservation in nature."  (St. Justin (c.100-165 AD)

     In essence, however, my challenge today is to do something of a conservation nature to clean up my local environment.   Litter patrol about the CHRPA/Shalom property!  The wind of the past two days has surely blown some unwanted debris in. I chastise myself often on hikes for not carrying a plastic garbage bag in which to put some of the trash we find hidden along the trail.  I do believe more churches should consider what they can do as a community to 'tend God's Creation' or 'take care of the garden'.   As a world our actions just might come back to bite us if we don't change our ways.  

Monday, Mar 2  Prayer: SPIRIT
John 14:26 CEB
The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.  
      Various translations use the term Advocate, Helper, Friend in place of the CEB Companion.  All convey someone very intimate and personal who is in position to guide, assist, encourage, and help us along our way.  For believers, this Spirit is Emanuel - God with us, God IN us, God as an integral part OF us.  That is quite the Companion!  
      Commentary in this chapter of John from The Voice gave another interesting perspective on the role of the Spirit through us:

God becomes flesh and lives among humanity, not just to have a transaction with people and ultimately die, but to continue to be with them and to send His Spirit to be present with believers.  So God calls His Spirit-indwelled people to something greater, something more significant: they are here as redeeming forces on this earth; their time here is about reclaiming the things He has created.  Believing God has created the entire cosmos and that it is restored in Jesus, the believer's work here through the Spirit is to say, "This belongs to God," and to help point out the beauty of creation to everyone.  And most of all, to live in it themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit who plants the teachings of the Lord in their hearts.

The beauty of creation is not just the natural world around us, but the beauty that lies within each and every individual person created by God.  Our job is to recognize and reclaim that beauty for God.  A good goal as I begin my CHRPA work today.  

Tuesday, March 3    Prayer:  SOLITUDE

Matthew 6:6

         In contemplation of this word, I refer to a series of quotes from Chapter 8 of Sue Monk Kidd’s book:

Anyone can retire into a quiet place, but it’s the shutting of the door that makes the difference.  Solitude is a time for stripping away everything in order to focus on God. 

Solitude is a time for ‘God and God alone.’But we don’t stay in solitude.  Though Jesus spent much time alone, He also returned to the crowds that followed him, renewed in his power to heal, forgive, feed, and teach.

While there may be some loneliness in every experience of solitude, we should not confuse the two.  Solitude is breaking through my isolation into sharing, and being in touch with my Creator.  In fact, we can begin to heal our loneliness by transforming it into solitude.

Moments alone with God, untethered by time, noise and inner compulsions, nourish the places where our spiritual energy is depleted and regrounds us in His love. 

True solitude in God’s presence always leads us to discover others.  Love and community are born in our times alone with God.  

Wednesday, Mar 4  Service: Call Someone
Philippians 2:1-2 CEB
Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 
     Today's Lenten calendar challenge is to Call Someone.  I spent nearly an hour last night on the phone with my brother Mac, and I hope to call my sister Liz this evening.  She has had some rough medical challenges in the past few months, most recently concerning her husband.  I think it is time to 'check in'!  Maybe I will wrap up my mid-week conversations, my "opportunity for encouragement in Christ, sharing comfort with love" with a call to my oldest sister on Thursday!
      Today's challenge reminds me of the old telephone commercial to 'reach out and touch someone', but perhaps that is what our Lord 'calls' us to do! 
   

Copyright Traci Smith 2015 www.traci-smith.com LENTEN PRACTICES CALENDAR FOR FAMILIES:  These activities are based around the traditional 'Three Pillars' of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving or Service.  The pillars are rotated throughout Lent with simple activities.  On the prayer days, use the word provided to inspire a prayer you write, draw, or sing.  All of the activities are suggestions.  Modify as necessary or desired!