“Be still and know,” echoed in my mind long after the song ended. Still enough to see. Still enough to hear. Still enough to raise my cupped hands with my paltry offering, all that I have and all that I am in one handful. I offer it to God, hush my thoughts, and wait for the knowing.
And with the part of me that won’t quiet, I give thanks.
Thanks for the pain that stopped me in my tracking race.
Thanks for the awareness of heart pain of others.
Thanks for the dark night that shook my hands from their grasping after perfection.
Thanks for the grace of now.
And as I wait — finally stilled — the nail-scarred hand reaches out and receives my gift.
What can he do with so little? I can’t write like Ann Voskamp, or sing like Nicole Nordeman, or teach like Beth Moore.
But he smiles. And even as he did on the hillside over two millennia ago, he thanks the father and blesses. He transforms my offering into nourishment for others.
He whispers that no one can love my family or friends in the unique way that I can.
No one else can be me (or you).
receiving hands
My life, his gift.
I receive my life again from his hand, and give thanks as he feeds the poor and hurting and hungry from the little I offer him.
And in the process, I hear the mountains sing of their great Creator.
Majestic Swiss mountain
I see his power in the crest of the wave.
Maui wave
His perfection in the flight of the hummingbird.
Cloud Forest hummingbird
I know his tenderness in the baby seal.
Espanola baby seal
I feel his delight in the grace of my granddaughter in her gymnastics routine.
Granddaughter on bar
I taste his goodness on walks by snow melt streams,
Spring melt
and the sweetness of friends I’ve never seen, but love across the invisible lines of the Internet.
I don’t need to be on a hillside in Galilee to see the miracle.
Be still and know.
He is here.
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us Ps 46:1-3 The Message He says, “Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 NIV
Have you had a Be Still season?
(To see the photos and the song, click on the title for the web version.) All photos property of Jack H Thompson. All rights reserved.
Among those who tasted the wine — the guests at the Wedding at Cana — did anyone notice how special that wine was? Or were they too far gone after days of celebrating, or so busy with their friends and family, that they didn’t even stop to savor it?
When we run dry, do we dance to conceal our lack from others? Or turn to Jesus to see how he will meet the need, rejoicing in the refreshment he offers?
Are we aware of the times our Lord has met a need or lack in our lives, filled our everyday world with the divine?
Do we even know it’s available?
With two of my daughters, I’m working on The Healing Path. In chapter two, Dan Allender asks us to look at our desert places, times when we have experienced betrayal, powerlessness, or ambivalence, and their effects. He instructs us to talk about our silence, poverty, danger, or aloneness.
Although I’ve had prayers for inner healing for every area of my life, “desert” and “silence” smacked me in the face and brought me to a standstill. Supported with my daughters’ love, I took the journey inward.
After hours of thought and anguish — of silence — I picked up a pen. As the words flowed, I allowed that little girl to actually feel the agony — the rejection, lack of love, fear, and the lack of any acknowledgment of my feelings,
or that they mattered at all.
Janie in Ocean City, NJ
For the first time, I suffered the pain as a helpless child in a cruel world, and I wept.
It became clear, like the flakes settling out of a snow globe.
Thanks to m_bartosch at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
When I was overwhelmed as I child. part of my heart had run for safety, and frozen over.
Rather than live a full life, I then allowed my mind to assume the job of living.
I worked hard to take care of the family, and perfected co-dependent skills. As an adult, that made me a good teacher, servant, missionary, church worker, etc. (Inside, I’m adding: wimp, doormat, approval-seeker).
And even though the Lord has worked in and through me for years, I’ve been frustrated to keep banging up against the same obstacles in my emotional life. Deep inside, something was missing.
No wonder. How could I live fully with a partially frozen heart?
As I wrote, I hurt and cried, as should have when I was wounded as a child.
Finally, transparent and aching, I opened the Bible. I flipped through the Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Philippians and Colossians, reading verses I’d highlighted over the years.
And somewhere in those pages, Jesus turned the water of my tears into wine.
Now, I can see how he has been turning water into wine in my life all along.
Just like the guests at the wedding in Cana, I’ve been holding out my cup, happy for him to fill it up, unaware of how great a miracle he offers.
Wise men find JesusJanuary 6 is Epiphany, a day celebrated by Christians throughout the world, focusing on the wise men who traveled a long way, following a star. When they found Jesus, they knelt before the infant king with their gifts. What did he give them? What did they carry away in their hearts? Since they listened to the angel’s warning and returned to their homes without telling Herod where to find Jesus, they must have gained something far stronger than their fear of Herod’s soldiers.
What did you seek at the manger this Christmas?
Manger
Can you hear the angels singing,
Grace revealed that holy night?
Light to brighten all our darkness
All our wrongs He will make right.
Come and creep up to the manger.
God in human form now lays.
Hear him whisper that he’ll love you
Through-out heav’n’s eternal days.
Drawing closer to Jesus — that is where real life begins.
Go on back to the manger, and listen for those whispered words.
He says, “I love you.“
“I knit you together in your mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)
“I have called you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
“For I know the plans I have for you“(Jeremiah 29:11)
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)
As I began to type those verses, I was amazed at how they flowed. Love-words I found planted in my mind, sinking through the years ever deeper into my spirit.
When I was six, my grandmother promised me a dime for every verse I memorized — a lot of money, for her and for me!
Janie in Virginia Beach
Of course, I started with the shortest verse, “Jesus wept” John 11:35. Many times since, this verse has reminded me of his compassion, his understanding of our pain.
Later I learned: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.“ (Hebrews 4:15-16)
We lived with my grandmother for five months when I was in the fourth grade. I joined the Pioneer Girls at Ocean City Baptist Church. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” was their motto. Verses I memorized for badges, and love poured into me by the leaders, prepared me to receive Jesus the next summer when I stayed with my grandmother after my brother died. The following week I dedicated my life to serve as a missionary.
Years later, when I finally made it to the foreign mission field in Honduras, I began to memorize verses in Spanish. In another language, they are stored in a different place in the brain, and for me, in the heart as well. So the Word went deeper.
After eight years, we returned to the States and suffered culture shock and depression. In a Navigator’s training class in Salt Lake City, founded on scripture memorization, I began to get back on my feet.
The Gospel of John starts, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God…..” Drawing near to Jesus begins with our experience of God becoming real in our lives, as the wise men at the manger, and grows as we get to know the living Word.
So I want to encourage you to take in the Word. Yes — memorize it.
I know from facilitating Beth Moore Bible studies that many feel they can’t memorize. We are all busy, and often time and sleep deprived. One more thing to do isn’t how we want to start the year.
But if we want more of Jesus, The Living Word, then honestly seeking him and having his words in our minds helps him to transform our lives.
For me, music is tied to worship, such as the verse above I wrote for Christmas to add to the song “Here is Love.” Music is a great way to learn scriptures. So, if you’re like me, find a song, or put a tune to the verse you’re learning. It could be your spoon full of sugar.
If you think you’re a hopeless cause, Ann Voskamp has come up with Scripture Memorization for the Rest of Us: The Jesus Project. Click on it at the bottom and read her blog. She even offers downloads of beautifully designed memory verses.
With so much I could have said today, I hesitated to talk about memorizing Bible verses, because it can be just another must-do, or mechanical, or even something to pump up our pride, or to hide from pain. (We’ve probably all known someone who could quote the Bible, but behaved in a way we certainly don’t want to follow.)
But if we read, learn and mull over the Word of God because we are hungry for The Word who is God, to bring real life into us, that’s where the treasure is.
When I want to know how much air to put in my tires or what kind of antifreeze I need, I consult my car’s owner’s manual. If I want to bake a cake, I consult a cookbook (now, often virtual). And when I’m designing a new garden bed, I study the soil, micro-climate and plant needs.
Would we be wise to do less with our lives? Dig into your owner’s manual and plant some of that wisdom in your mind. (Sorry for all the mixed metaphors.)
If your life needs a jump-start, transformation, healing or simply more guidance, then I encourage you to seek more of Jesus, however you want to come.
“In the presence of a king, don’t ask for small gifts. He is God!” Charles Swindoll, Insight for Living, 30 Dec 2013
My New Year’s Prayer for you:
I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength! Ephesians 1:17-19 (MSG)
Glimpse of Peace 