November

For years mom kept journals; her mother kept journals; and it struck me tonight that God kept a journal. And not just one or through one method. He wrote...His story in the stars, His commandments on tablets of stone, His poetry in the Psalms, His love for us on parchments, and when that wasn't enough, wrote it all in our hearts. No wonder the book of Romans says we are without excuse if we know Him not.

So, it's legitimate that we journal because we journey - we declare the way so that it won't be forgotten, our descendants might follow and hearts can return home.

And that is why I am going to enter some of my mother's "musings" to parallel her growth with mine (and perhaps yours). Thank you, mom.

Entry #1 - "November" I know - it's not November right now and I should probably save this for the fall - but she entered this at 52 and I am now just two years past that - her descrip caught my attention because I can so relate....."I am in the hot, flaming, colorful autumn of my life - 52 years old."

November (credit Linda Pastan)

It is an old drama,
This disappearance of the leaves,
this seeming death of the landscape.
In a later scene,
or earlier,
the trees like gnarled magicians
produce handkerchiefs
of leaves
out of empty branches.

And we watch.

We are like children
at this spectacle of leaves.
As if one day we too
will open the wooden doors
of our coffins
and come out smiling,
and bowing
all over again.

Living Stones?

Isaiah 28:16 - So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed."

Can it really be five mos. since our last post? I guess one might argue either there's been no word, hence no growth, or no time to write about much growth? Well life does not happen in a vacuum....but I sure act like one - sucking up the dust and dirt of living, along with its lost treasures.

Many years ago, my family embarked on an unforgettable, life-changing, motorhome journey across the United States - a journey that mimicked Pilgrim's Progress as we came face to face with ourselves individually and collectively. The physical journey ended when we sold that wonderful motorhome (I often wonder if the new owner had any idea what incredible transformations took place inside there!), but the spiritual continues to this day. I empathize with Haiti during this heartwrenching aftermath of its shaking because our journey was a shaking - rending our shoddy man-made foundations, testing our resources, restructuring our society (ie: family), and re-evaluating our true needs. You might be thinking that does not compare to the physical suffering of that nation, but I assure you, a shaking spiritually is felt in both realms. The domino goes both ways and, now, I pray, that Haiti's physical shaking will result in a spiritual reawakening.

Mom and I were talking this morning - she reminding me that we are "living stones" being built up in to a new and glorious temple, whose foundation is Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we won't be finished until the capstone (Christ again) is in place. I thought of that shaking years ago where our foundations were destroyed - proven faulty - and a new foundation was laid with this truth that Peter expressed in Matthew 16:16 when Jesus asked him, "but whom say ye that I am?": "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Up until then we thought the truth was that Peter was that rock upon which the church was built, but it was revealed to us - just as to Peter by the Father (16:17) - the truth is built upon that rock of ages, that nugget of insight that Christ IS the Messiah, the sacrificial son foreshadowed over and over and over again in the Old Testament - the foundation of eternity, the beginning and the end, the cornerstone and the capstone. Believe me, that nugget of truth changed our lives, and I believe is the foundational question of the ages, evoked when Christ was lifted up upon that cross - "Who do you say that I am?" Peter in fact actually tells me, "you ALSO, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5

Ironically, just a little over a week ago, I placed several rocks collected from various points on our journey on my father's grave. A reminder.