Saturday, April 19, 2008

Thought #18

Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the
earth.
- Psalm 74: 12

I walked through gardens cluttered with stones.  Those stones carved with names and with dates like memorials for all the lost, gone with the past.  I walked on top of hills till I could see the coast, see how the waves met the sky - combined.  I stood on messy paths with Autumn droppings not even the wind could sweep away.  Looking.  Looking as far as I could, wondering if trees ever get bored, but then again, nothing is ever the same.  

From day to day sun spots never keep old shadows.  Burnt wrinkled rustic leaves are trampled and broken and strewn in different ways.  Then the winds never take the same paths.  The sky never holds the same hues.  And though gravestones ask for remembrance, the memories are constantly set in new frames like viewing the world through kaleidoscopes watching the beads squares - all the shapes - fall, form, coming together in new ways. 

Still.

This sense of awe came over me - smile; the only reaction I took with my eyes squinting in the sun.  A warmth radiating down covering me.  The wind gently nibbled at my sandaled feet.  But I could think of nothing; I could do not  a thing.  Awestruck in complete wonder of the state of creation.

Still.

Why move?  Why take myself from this moment when deep calls to deep?  When the only words spoken are that of visual language where the divide between truth and reality is blurred becoming as one.  When nothing else matters except standing on Burial Hill and knowing the fullness of life.  

Because when in life you are moved to remain still, silent and taking it all in, you better breathe slow and pan your sight along the horizon.

Still there is more.  It would be limiting to say this is all God has for you, that the day can't possibly get better.  Because He is always working.  Because His work is accomplished in front of you, behind you - surrounding.  His work is you.

Don't you get it?  Don't you get that these sights, these experiences, this life isn't all He has for you.  That you're in process.  That life is but a flash like going to the beach, picking up a clump of sand, holding your hand out, then letting it all drop, all go careening back to where it came from.  

But wait.

Breathe.

(slow)

And take one breath for another.  Go from sight to sight.  Stay and linger.  Because there is much more for you than this and God is working it all out. 

I turned from all there was.  Smiled and didn't understand how I still knew to walk.  I went step for step - awestruck.

You don't have to entirely understand any of how the day comes together like the waves and the sky combining.  But understand that God is working salvation in the midst of the earth.

Remain.  Observe.  Experience. 

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