Tapestries of Love

LORD, You have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. LORD, even before I say a word, You already know it. You are all around me – in front and in back – and have put Your hand on me. Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand
. . . You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
. . . God, Your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many! If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. . . God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any bad thing in me. Lead me on the road to everlasting life.
Psalm 139:1-6 (NCV), 13-16 (NLT), 17-18, 23-24 (NCV)


Faithful Father,
What makes me think I can hide my doubts from You? How can I pretend to be strong when You know I am not? Why would You listen so intently to my prayers when You already know my needs? When am I ever alone?
You know all about me and love me still. I am never alone – You are all around me. You listen to the groans of my soul with mercy and tenderness. You are my strength; You make me bold, for I am nothing without You. LORD, even before I say a word, my heart’s desires, my anxious thoughts, my hurried spirit, my silent fears – all are known. You are too marvelous for me!
You create magnificent designs, each one unique. Your thoughts are like threads of gold and silver and cotton and silk, in colors of every shade, while our moments are like remnants of fibers with varied hues and textures and patterns. Your thoughts and our moments are woven and spun into holy tapestries of love. With majesty and grace, You weave them together for glory-purposes that exceed my abilities to know or understand. God, examine me . . . lead me ~ in all things, at all times! Amen. ~dho

Glory

Bravo, GOD, bravo!
. . . angels shout, "Encore!"
In awe before the glory, in awe before God's visible power.
. . . GOD's thunder sets the oak tres dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees - we call out, "Glory!"
Psalm 29:1, 9 The Message

God's Splendor and Power reveal His character ~ Steadfast Love and Faithfulness. And my response? It should be to fall to [my] knees and call out, "Glory!". The problem often lies in not noticing God's mystery and majesty; the problem lies within me.

Holy Father,
Glimpses of Your glory escape me because I hurry past or rush between or skip ahead. Your best moments are hidden in my eagerness, my enthusiasm, my certainty. Forgive the careless and egocentric attitudes that clog my days and blind my heart to the unmeasured blessings.

In the silence of the early morning, let me linger in Your presence, a fragrance fresh and sweet. In the darkness of the late night, let me sit with You, with wisdom strong and true. In the solitude of an afternoon walk or in the stillness as children lie sleeping, I desire to rest with You, a shelter safe and warm. Tell me where to go and what to choose. Help me know how and when and if. Oh, Father, as I wait, give me patience to be still long enough to listen, quiet long enough to hear Your whispers of love. Amen. ~dho

Thirsty!

John 4:28 "the woman put down her water
jar and hurried back to tell the people".

"She put down her water jar. This very well may be
the heart of this beautiful story. Her water jar is her
own agenda. . . She walked away from that well with
Living Water because she was able to let go of her
own agenda . . . and go forth with God's agenda."
from Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels

Holy Father,
Help me put down my water jar - my
agenda, my expectations, my plans, my
desires. These get in the way of your Mighty
Ways, your Divine Intentions for my life. In
my own humanity, I fail to come to the altar
without some remnant of thought or partial
desire in my heart. In the deepest part of my
soul, I long to worship You with pure intent.
I thirst for Living Water. Fill my cup . . . I lift it up . . .
Quench this thirsting in my soul . . . Fill it up and make
me whole. Find me on my knees, my soul in
the circle of grace, listening for Your Agenda.
Amen. ~ dho

Community

Henri J. M. Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup? (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria, 1996), 57.

"Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other in a gesture of hope. In community we say: “Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs – but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.”

Paul writes: And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it.
Philemon 1:6 The Message

We are called into community through Christ. He asks us to reach beyond our boundaries of our commonality and touch others in His name. While our differences sometimes distinguish us from one another, we are one in Him. Oswald Chambers writes about becoming broken bread and poured out wine. Only through Grace can acts of goodness become broken bread and poured out wine. Circumstance does not create community, rather it reveals its strength, its motivations, its endurance, its depth, its hope. Christ calls believers into community ~ and our response reveals our true faith. I wonder, do people recognize Christ in my acts of goodness? ~dho

It is no light task to teach all people in truth, and to foster unity, forgiveness, sincerity, and uprightness in all things. ~ The Rule of Carthage, Irish, 7th century

Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 (NASB/ESV)

Deep and Wide

To You they cried out and were delivered;

In You they trusted and were not disappointed.

Psalm 22:5 NASB

There is a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea. . .

For the love of God is broader than the measure of our mind. . .

If our love were but more simple, we should rest upon God's Word;

and our lives would be illumined by the presence of our Lord.

by Fredrick W. Faber, 1854

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 ESV