A Morning Walk

Walking these streets, I find myself.

In the grafitti on a wall.
In rocking chairs on a porch.
In the simple, boring building, fallen to disrepair.
In the quirky little house painted crazy colors that don't go together at all.
In the grand, majestic home with the pristine lawn.
In the sleek new structure built not too long ago.
In the zany paintings on the street.

In the smiles that dare to say good morning to a stranger.
In the cries for justice on the neighborhood bulletin board.
In the tall and glorious trees that sing praises to my God.
In the lawn art that seems so crazy it makes me laugh.

Echoes of the many places I've lived.
Echoes of who I've been, who I am now.
Echoes of longings, dreams of who I want to be.
Ugliness and beauty allowed to stand side by side...
Reflecting much of what I find within.

This place allows me space to live a simple life...
to stop in unannounced and share heart-talk with a friend,
to chat again with the same bus driver, say hi to the same neighbor.
Yet also opportunity for whatever grand adventure my heart desires...
a waterfall, a city of books, a chance to explore what's down that road,
simply because I've never been there before.

Today is for…

Today is for remembering that God is in control. He has a plan, not only for me, but for every person I know. And every person I don't know. He has a plan for the city I live in, the country I live in, and the countries I don't live in.

He has a plan for the poor. For the suffering. For the details undone.

And His plan will bring Him glory.

And, here is the best part… He is fully capable of accomplishing His plan! He is organized, capable, creative, competent, and He never gets stressed out. His resumé is full. His qualifications are PERFECT.

He is kind enough to include me in the process, even though He doesn't need me at all. But THAT is not for today. You see, today is a Sabbath day for me.

So today I will breathe. I will remember that He has His calendar under control. He is not in desperate need of an assistant, and He doesn't need me to remind Him of what needs to be done.

I can stop for today, and He will KEEP WORKING! I don't need to leave Him a list of instructions for what needs to be done while I am gone. I don't need to worry about what will be piled up waiting for me when I return. He is quite capable.

Am I selfish to stop today? That IS a nagging fear. But I think that there is such great wisdom in the way He instructed His people so long ago to rest and worship Him. To look at Him. To look at what He has done and say, "It is good."

Today I can rejoice in the beautiful gift that Jesus has set me free. Free to observe the Sabbath. Free to NOT observe the Sabbath. Free to work. Free to rest. Free to proclaim His name from the rooftops. Free to whisper it into the blogosphere.

Today I choose to live what I believe – in a different way than on other days.

I tell myself that my works are not necessary to gain His approval. That my help is not necessary to accomplish His plan. He is able. Yet He loves me and allows me to join Him.

Tomorrow, I will proclaim the gospel with my words, with my works. I will step out in faith to share my heart with others, to hear their hearts.

But today, I will be still, and know that He is God.

I will proclaim the gospel with my stillness.

With my peace.

---

A Sabbath Day

Today, I choose to do what I long to do.

I set aside the "shoulds" and "ought to's" and I follow the way that He whispers to my soul.

One of the things I've been trying to do on this 3-month Sabbatical from my volunteer staff role at church is to LISTEN.

OH, how I LONG to hear clearly what God is saying. Life makes so much more sense when I can hear what He is saying.

The challenge is quieting myself. Not an easy task for this ponderer with meandering thoughts!

One night, recently, I was awake in the middle of the night. Couldn't fall back asleep. I wondered if I should read something encouraging to my soul, if I should go downstairs and see if sleep success could be found on the couch.

But I didn't want to leave my husband to wake up alone... so I asked, "Lord, what should I do?"

"Walk."

Hmmmm.... Well, it wouldn't make sense to go outside in the middle of the night. So I pace - from the front of the living room to the back hallway. And as I do, I read a few snippets from my devotional book and I pray.

The energy works its way out and the peace works its way in.

And I am amazed at His wisdom. This thought would not have occurred to me - I mean really, pacing in the middle of the night!

Yet, it was exactly what I needed.

A couple days later, it was my day off, and I was hazy - in and out of sleep, happy under the covers. And as I laid there, not yet alert enough to be distracted from His voice, I heard Him...

He said, "Write."

And so I had a lovely Sabbath day of finishing up a few posts I had written long ago but never finished and posted, and writing new draft thoughts. Then I went for a walk, and everything I saw seemed so alive with His presence.

A week later, it occurs to me that these words He spoke were not only for those moments, but were His guidance in the unfurling of this life of faith.

So today, on this lovely Sabbath day - which, for this church-worker family, is never on a Sunday - I WALKED.

I still marvel at the fact that I can hop in my car and in less than ten minutes, I can be here:

I can hardly believe that I get to behold this beauty...

And now I WRITE.

And my soul feels so alive!

It is the most wonderful feeling to hear God's direction for this moment, for this season, and then obey.

It makes me want to get so much better at hearing Him, and so much better at obeying!

---