The Gaze of God…

The Gaze of God

Thankful, I am, when I finally realize that nowhere can I find myself outside the “gaze of God,” no matter where I try to hide.

Helped, I am, when I realize that the “gaze of God” is for my own good and not punitive, as my gaze can be to others.

Experience has brought a yearning for the “gaze of God” to view me as I am and yet still seek me.

God’s gaze at me is both correcting and loving; as the sun burns away the fog and caresses the lily.

Amazing that God’s gaze can purify, can clean, can burn and also heal, at the same time.

Zephyr-like, it can be, when the “gaze of God” seeks us when we have gone astray, to gently bring us back.

Eternal is God’s gaze – it shall be forever and forever.

O God in heaven, never turn Your gaze from me!

Forgive, when I might ask You to turn away; I don’t really mean it – it is the sin that cries out for darkness!

Gazing is to see with more than just the physical eye, from God’s side of the gaze.

Overcoming the limitations of our physical eyes, God’s gaze sees our intentions as well as our actions.

Determined to see us through – “the gaze of God” is a loving, watchful, ever-ready to help look from His heart to ours.

 The Path Continues…

Wash Over Me…

Wash Over Me, Lord

Weary from the journey that life seems to call me to each and every day – I need to be washed over, O Lord.

Apart I draw at times to seek Your presence anew and to be refreshed – I need to be washed over, O Lord.

Seeking forgiveness for obvious sins and also the sins that are not obvious to others, but to You – I need to be washed over, O Lord.

Hope abounds as I sense Your forgiveness and Your call to “Be still and know,” again – I feel You washing over me, O Lord.

Overcome with the sense to seek You anew and yet I know You have been there all along – I need my eyes washed over, O Lord.

Vision that can only come from You is what I seek and, with assurance, I receive – I see You washing over me, O Lord.

Enough to know that You are in control, I rest in Your peace – thank You for washing over me, O Lord.

Realizing that as You wash over me, I lose the dirt and dross that I have come to enjoy – continue to wash over me, O Lord.

Move over me like the river moves over a rock, so hard, yet shaped by the washing over of the water – mold me as You wash over me, O Lord.

Envelope me, O Lord, as the water envelopes the stone as it carries it along the stream – carry me as You wash over me, O Lord.

Like the water of life that You are, “Wash over my spirit and love me I pray, in fathomless billows        of peace” – wash over me quickly, O Lord.

Over and over I know I need Your washing as I sin against You, please do not forget me – I need You to wash over me, O Lord.

Return to me, O Lord, I know You never left; I am the one who needs to return – I return to Your washing over me, O Lord.

Defenseless I stand, I need Your forgiveness, Your peace; I come to place myself again in Your hands – wash over me, O Lord, I pray!

The Path Continues…

Attention…

Paying Attention

Persistent and loving Father,

Always pursuing and seeking us,

You love us in such a way that is hard for us to understand.

Instill in us the heart to pay attention to You today, O God.

Near to You is where we long to be in our heart of hearts.

Growing in our understanding of Your grace, we come to worship.

Allow Your grace to wash over us to cleanse and forgive today,

Take us into Your arms and shelter us from harm.

Test our sprits by Your Holy Spirit, to listen and to hear.

Enlarge our capacity to show mercy, even as You are merciful to us.

Never let our minds wander from You, Father.

Teach us be forgiving even as we are forgiven by You.

Instruct us in Your ways as we shift our attention from our way.

Open our minds to learn more of You today and then to be more of You to this world.

Negate our inattention with Your persistent love for us today, dear God.

The Path Contines

In the name of Your Son, whom we love, Amen!!

Friendship…

The Goodness of Friendship

Temporary is a word too often associated with our society.

Honest, open relationships seem to fall into that vein also.

Eternal is a word or concept that is used or believed very little today.

Good friendship is a diamond concept in a costume jewelry world.

Often we seek different things in friendships, a lot of the wrong things, I’m afraid.

Overly concerned with physical attributes or possessions, i.e., money, land, houses,

Delicate qualities such as honesty, gentleness, kindness and humility are overlooked,

Nonessential, we deem them, as long as we are liked or loved for what we possess.

Ethereal is the person who can see beyond the obvious and penetrate to the very core of another, even to want to is a rare quality these days.

Sincere in the desire to know me, all of me, not just the outward but the inward, also.

Sensitive to what I say but careful to listen for what I mean, this is a friend.

Overcoming distance, time and space, this person seeks to know and be known.

Fearless of being rejected, they risk themselves to provide support and care, even if from a distance of space and time.

Friends, the type of which I speak, are treasures found again, and sources of strength and comfort and love.

Reciprocation is not necessarily sought, but it is received with grace and love.

I readily say, “I need this kind of friend and I’m fortunate to know and be known by several in my life today.”

Every time I awaken I’m reminded by God of His friendship and He reminds me that He has placed in my path people who are my friends also, and I give thanks.

New friends are there each day, but the friends of the years are my greatest source of human joy.

Determine to allow that source of joy in you to flow to others as you encounter or re-encounter them along your life-path.

Show the people who mean the most to you that you are their friend, no matter what other relationship you may have with them at present.

Hasten to show them love, understanding, accountability and honesty, and expect the same from them to you.

Instill in those you influence the need to be a friend, as well as to seek friends.

Pursue joy by allowing the goodness of friendship to flow from you and by allowing it to flow to you, also.

The Path Continues…

Drippings…

Thoughts and Impressions while at “A Gathering of Silence”

To set the stage or context for these thoughts, let me remember where I was and what I was doing when these impressions and thoughts came to me, I believe from God.

I had hiked to the top of Dismal Mountain and was resting there after writing a note. I fell asleep and awoke about 45 minutes later because it had turned cloudy, and a cool breeze was blowing across my body and I was cold. I got up and put my backpack on, and started to descend the mountain. I chose to return a different way than I had climbed going up. I chose the old trail that I had first used to climb that mountain several years ago. They had made a new and wide trail so more people could go to the top, but I chose the old, less used path to descend.

I have had the impression of “the drippings of grace,” ever since arriving here yesterday and I had written an acrostic on it last night before retiring. The impressions were further fleshed out as I descended the mountain. So here they are!

It was so quiet on the mountain you could actually hear the leaves falling as a gentle breeze would occasionally shake the tops of the trees. It was so still at times that you could hear absolutely nothing, then a gentle breeze would stir and leaves would, as it were, drip all over you. This thought occurred to me. The gentle breeze was God gently dripping His grace on the mountain just as He drips His grace on us who believe in His Son, Jesus. Let me amplify. This mountain has undergone some pretty dramatic events in the last several years. A hurricane with its mighty winds leveled a lot of the older trees, and loggers had to cut large scars in the face of the mountain in order to salvage the timber in those trees and to provide safety breaks so fire would not ravage the mountain. In addition, the past two years have been extremely dry, and the creeks and rivers that run through these mountains are very low in water and the noise associated with that.

It just seemed to me that the dripping of these leaves was a sign from God that He was healing the mountain. As the leaves would fall gently to the ground below, they would hide the scars of the cut roads and fallen trees. The leaves would provide nourishment for the remaining trees and foliage. The leaves were the dripping of grace to bring about renewal and healing to this mountain.

I was reminded that that is exactly like God’s grace. His grace drips on us from the blood of the cross and His Son, Jesus. As the leaves hide and heal the mountain, so God’s grace hides our sins and heals our brokenness. It provides the nourishment we need to renew and refresh our souls and spirits. God is the source of the needed, unmerited favor that His grace is and supplies. Just as the leaves from the trees come without price to the ground below, so God’s grace is a free gift for our acceptance.

The drippings of God’s grace are evident every day of our life, if we allow them to enter our lives. The people God brings into our lives, the “confluence of circumstances” that He brings into our paths, the still quiet voice to whisper His love, all of these things are part of the “drippings of grace” from a loving, forgiving, remaking, Father-God.

Thank you, Lord, for these impressions this morning. Allow me to share them with others who need the “drippings of your grace.     

The Path Continues…

Chugging Along…He finds Us….

 

Come Now to Find Us

O God of such truth as sweeps away all lies, of such grace as shrivels all excuses, come now to find us, for we have lost our selves in a shuffle of disguises and the rattle of empty words.

Let your Spirit move mercifully to recreate us from the chaos of our lives.

We have been careless of our days, our loves, our gifts, our chances. 

We have withdrawn in arrogance, we have hidden in timidity, we have disappeared in fear,  rather than reaching out in hope, engaging in humility, or risking in faith.

We are busy in self-seeking, and lax in self-awareness.

We seek the comfort of belonging, but we shun the cost of responsibility.

We are long on easy generalities, but short on hard specifics, even when we find them in your word.

Our prayer is to change, 0 God, not out of despair of self, but for love of you, and for the selves we long to become before we simply waste away.

Let your mercy move in and through us now, freeing us to love honestly, enabling us to trust bravely, reuniting us to live joyfully, and claiming us for the audacious revolution of Christ and your kingdom.

May we awake to you and resist the temptation to sleep through this life.

May we see your heart, Oh Father, beating for this world, and may we awaken to your love and life.

In Jesus’ name and with thanksgiving, I pray.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

Lift Us Up…

Lift Us Up, O Lord!

In the beauty of this morning, Lord, we come to You to offer our sacrifice of praise, praise for Your creating us, and giving us life and all the necessary things to sustain that life. We often neglect to say thank You, Lord.

We come needing to be lifted up, O Lord. We need to be lifted up above the shadows in which this world seeks to keep us. We long for our feet to be planted in the rich soil of Your grace and to grow to be more like You. Lift us up, Lord! We submit ourselves to Your lifting today as we come to worship You, O God.

In the stillness of this time, we rest from our physical labors, O God. In a time when we celebrate our ability to do physical labor, help us to hear Your reminding us of the labor that You have called us to do for You, O God. Help us to toil on in Your fields that are white with Your harvest. May we labor for You today and in the days ahead, O God.

In the beauty of this morning, O Lord, we come. In the beauty of Your holiness, we worship You! In the beauty of Your sacrifice, we offer ourselves to You, O God! In the beauty of the name of Your son, Jesus Christ, I pray.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

Close to the Root…

Kept, Close to the Root (A Pastoral Prayer)

King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

Eternal Father and God of All,

Protector and Provider for Pour children, we wait before You today!

Together, with all of the saints, as individuals, we come before You, O God.

Close to You, dear Lord, we long to be close to You.

Leaving behind our sins and turning our face to You,

Out of the darkness of this world, into the light of Your grace,

Shield us as we come to praise You, O Father.

Everything we have, You have given to us; accept our sacrifice of praise today.

To remain near You is our earnest plea, to draw close to You and realize that Your closeness is always here.

Out in the world, day by day, we need Your closeness—feed us through Your root, O God.

The need of Your nurture through the root of Your love is evident in our lives.

Help us to drink deeply of the nectar of Your life as we listen for Your still small voice today.

Enliven us to respond in obedience to what we hear You saying today.

Remove from us the tendency to think that the branch can live without the root.

Often we feel we can go it on our own, without remembering Your past grace and mercy—it is then that we stumble, dear God.

Overspray our lives with the awareness that You alone can keep us close to You.

Today we come, returning to You, our Root, wanting to reconnect to our life-source. Thank you, Lord, for being willing to receive us as we come. We pray in the name of the only true root, Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

We Come…

“We Come” (A Prayer)

We come to You, O God and Father,

In the name of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ,

And in the power of Your Holy Spirit, our Comforter.

We come seeking You, even as You have already sought us,

To come into Your presence to dwell with You,

And abide in You even as the branch abides in the vine.

We come with brokenness, asking that You mend us,

And recreate us in Your image. We, the creatures,

Long to be made again by You, the Creator.

We come with broken hearts; our sin is ever before us

As we draw near to You, the sinless one. We long for

Forgiveness, which only You can give. Thank You for Your love.

We come with broken bodies; the world has not been kind

In these days, so we ask for physical healing in order that

We may live in this world, yet, apart from it.

We come with broken spirits at times. We look to You, O Father,

To lift up our heads and remind us that You are ever with us

in discouraging times, as well as encouraging ones.

We come with questions that only You can answer, O Father.

We confess that we have asked the world for answers

And have been left empty. Fill us, O Lord.

We come with sorrows too deep to express,

Hoping that You know, too. In our best times, we know

That You know. Help us to live in that promise.

We come because we want to worship You, in whatever

Expression we can offer to You of our love,

Knowing that You first loved us beyond any measure.

We come trying, the best we know, to lift others

Who need Your presence as much as we do.

Teach us how to be before we attempt to do.

We come in order that we can go. We come into Your

Presence and long to stay as we go. Your presence goes before us.

Even as we long to stay, You long to show us how to go.

We come.  You never left. You were and are here, all the time.

We sense a need to be reminded. You gently say, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We come…thank You, Lord.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

House Calls…

House Calls (A Prayer)

Heavenly Father, Gracious God of this universe, and Lord of all creation,

Open our minds and hearts to You today as we worship You in this place.

Use our capacity to mentally understand, in order to make us more aware of and to be like You, Father.

Sever our minds from the world’s interests as we have come to see You, O God.

Enliven our souls to long to know You better and to serve You more for having heard Your Word today.

Cancel our unbelief, with Your patient walking along with us, as You explain Your will to us.

Allow us to see You with new eyes today, even as we walk along life’s path with You today.

Level our hearts as You leveled the ground at the foot of Your cross.

Let us see and hear You today as You continue to knock on the doors of our hearts as You long to help us see anew.

Send us to tell of Your love to others, even today, O God.

                    Even so, Lord, come quickly. Amen!

The Path Continues…