Like a wing walker, ever the novice, I’ve practiced hard learning to balance on the back of my assigned eagle. As I’ve travelled through life it’s been a battle to maintain consistent equilibrium. Some days I effortlessly stand squarely in the middle of his back. Others I’m on the precarious edge with my toes hanging off flailing against the wind.


I’ve noticed that when I haven’t spent daily time with my Father in His word I am worried, distracted and thrown off balance. My days are frustrating and everything seems difficult. Contentment employs evasive tactics. Happiness is elusive. Hope, a mere shadow upon the ground, just out of reach. And peace quickly dissolves into my tears.


The longer I am away from Him, the more I avoid Him, the harder it is to return to Him.


His word, though. I cannot escape it. Nor does it hide from me. Indeed, it pursues me. In spite of me, it is the tether securing me to my eagle. It is He, Himself, through it, giving me strength and courage to hold on, turning the fierce wind into a buoyant lift upon which we glide ever closer together.


This is my prayer, oh Lord. Please, hold tight, and never let me let go.




Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youth grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:27-31.

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This morning after finishing all my morning tasks, getting Ronnie Baby’s lunch made and seeing him off to work, getting myself dressed for the day, I sat down with a cup of tea to spend some time with the Lord and read my Bible.


After settling in and getting that just-right comfortableness, I realized that I forgot to get my reading glasses. Looking around I saw them all the way over there on the dining room table. A whole ten feet away! I decided to try reading without them, but opening to ~ I think it was Jeremiah chapter something ~ realized it wasn’t going to happen.


Closing my bible I thought what am I going to do? I can’t read without my glasses, and I’m really comfortable right now. I can’t have time with the Lord without my Book. Can I?


Here I am. I have a book but can’t read it. What if I could read but didn’t have a book? I could attempt to recall all the scriptures I’ve memorized over the years. That’s a good start. And I remember that He wrote His Torah upon my heart.


So, I don’t necessarily need a book to spend time with Him. It’s good, always. But I don’t NEED it. I’m not blind. I look out at His creation and see Him. I have prayers and praise in my heart to offer Him. In the blessings of my home I am provided for and protected by Him. Through the love of my family and friends I feel Him and am nourished by Him. I truly lack for nothing. He is always with me. He’ll never forsake me. Yesterday, today and forever.


PS. I decided to get up and get my glasses, cuz who knows what this post would have said had I not.




“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33

Last April we started on a minor kitchen renovation. Two years ago we replaced worn out flooring, and replaced or repaired some furniture pieces and rearranged the living room a bit. That was great, and needed to be done.


But!


It was Kitchen Time! It had been Kitchen Time for years! New countertops, sink, faucet, backsplash. Even though we’re still working on the details, all the scattered things are mostly back in order - temporary tables put away, sink and faucet installed with coffee pot handy again, and smooth countertops neatly covering their rough wood base.


Although it takes time, I love this kind of stuff. It’s the vision of, and the bringing forth of, a transformation. I imagine that the Lord views me with the same enthusiasm. Though perhaps, with greater patience. Which eludes me much of the time.


I recall one particular day, even though I called upon every ounce of my little bitty mustard seed of patience and faith, I was over it. Then I noticed, from my couch perspective, that just over the top of the mess piled up on the dining room table, out the dining room window, I saw my beautiful rhododendron in full glorious, deep pink bloom, illuminating the end of the tunnel.


I’m very much looking forward to realizing the vision I see in my mind. Experiencing the different details and textures, noticing how all my choices work together. Hopefully, they’ll all be friends and play well together - like the Lord dreams of us, His children, playing nicely together.


When that day arrives and I can say my kitchen home is complete, I imagine it will be just a shadow of the day when I’m all done in this messy, incomplete, wilderness displacement, that I can unpack not just my things, but more importantly, my heart, for good and forever, in my real forever home, Israel.


The Lord declared, “Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15, NKJV).[i]