3 posts tagged “faith”
inspired by this song by misty edwards:
You won't relent until You have it all
My heart is YoursI'll set You as a seal upon my heart
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death
Jealousy demanding as the grave
Many waters cannot quench this loveCome be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one
19 "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life..."
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
This morning, I chose to spend time deliberately with God - through journaling and reading His Word. I've missed that connection at times. I've been focused on unlearning my "religious a,b,c's" form of faith and clinging to my faith as a relationship. What a novel idea. Its hard. I struggle to see all the ways that I can love and honor God that don't specifically look like the spiritual disciplines I have believed to be an absolute necessity to my faith. I'm trying to find the line between knowing those things are good and help me grow, but also knowing that I don't need them to have a relationship with a Father who is full of agape love. (unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, and thoughtful love)
Over my cup of coffee, I reread something I had written in my journal months ago. Its by Karl Rahner:
"But on the other hand, if its true that I can lose You in everything, it must be also true that I can find You in everything. If you have given me no single place to which I can flee and be sure of finding You, if anything I do can mean the loss of You, then I must be able to find You in every place, in each and everything I do. Otherwise I couldn't find You at all, and this cannot be, since I can't possibly exist without You. Thus I must seek You in all things. If every day is "everyday", then every day is Your day, and every hour is the hour of Your grace."
Thats my prayer today: I want to choose life. I want to find God in everything and every place.
"Our eyes tell us that the mountains are green in summer and in autumn the colors of flame. They tell us that the nose of the little girl is freckled, that her hair usually needs combing, that when she is asleep, her cheek is flushed and moist. They tell us that the photographs of Abraham Lincoln taken a few days before his death show a man who at the age of fifty-six looked as old as time. Our eyes tell us that the small country church down the road needs a new coat of paint and that the stout lady who plays the pump organ looks a little like W.C. Fields and that the pews are rarely more than about a quarter filled on any given Sunday.
But these things are only facts because facts are all the eye can see. Eyes can't see truth. The truth about the mountains is their great beauty. The truth about the child is that she is so precious that without a moment's hesitation we would give our lives to save her life if that should somehow ever be necessary. The truth about Abraham Lincoln is a humanness so rich and deep that it's hard to stand in his memorial in Washington without tears coming to our eyes, and the truth about the shabby little church is for reasons known only to God it is full of holiness. It is not with the eyes of the head that we see truths like that, but with the eyes of the heart.
The truth is that the kingdom of God is all around us. The truth is that God is working out eternal purposes beyond the facts, beyond our human understanding. Things are often not as they appear. We need Jesus to heal our sight, the ability to see with our heart."
Frederick Buechner
