I read somewhere that sound gives form to matter and that in the Biblical narrative of creation, God spoke words and creation began. All of creation was something He said. So as we are God's words walking around in God's words looking to encounter the Living Word through His written Word, I'm realizing that God loves language. He loves words that give birth to things, not empty ones that drop to the dust.
Lately, I've been making a more conscious effort to watch for the words around me that is in the natural realm which exposes His eternal realities, the words God speaks to create situations that whisper to us His mysteries. I caught a whisper of His the other day.
Last Wednesday we lost our dog. We've only had Clementine for over a year, and she's the only dog my family has ever had. That weekend prior to Wednesday, my friend Melissa came and stayed a night at my house after The Ascent Conference that we went to [I always believe that it's the fruit after a conference that makes the conference really beautiful. And this one was definitely a beaut. We'd also met some beautiful people who I hope me and my sibs can keep in touch with. So back to the word story...]. Melissa was telling me how Clementine looked depressed. At that moment I made myself a mental note to become more affectionate towards my Clem because I know I hadn't been the last couple months because I've been so busy, I hadn't cared. When Wednesday came around, I thought I'd lost my chance to give her a belly rub session. I was sad. But thankfully, Clementine was found, and joy entered my heart when she came through the door. =)
Meet Clementine.photcred: melwren [http://heybigcity.blogspot.com]
I want to be found watching and waiting. When He comes, I want to feel the gladness in my heart that He felt when He watched for the prodigal son to come home. And if that measure of gladness is anything like what I felt when Clementine came home, I want that times ten thousand. I don't want to wait to spend my affections when it's too late. I don't want to feel guilt instead of gladness. To watch and wait involves my affections and I give them all to Him. Let us be found longing and ready.
"The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father's house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers." Isaiah 22:22-24
The Father of glory put His Son on display and on Him, the Father of glory hangs all glory. He sets Him to be a glorious throne in His House, and is sure to adorn Him with the reward of His suffering. That just as He has fastened the Son to be a peg on which all glory hangs, He would fasten on Him His reward.
And what's beautiful is that He chooses us to be the vessels for which He will display His glory to the ends of the earth, and he calls us to interact with the Man on which all glory hangs. He says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Along with this revelation of the indwelling Christ that establishes greater channels of communion with the Father and Son, I'm learning that He has given to the watchmen the key of David, which is the key of intimacy. I can watch, and know who it is I watch for, because of the wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus because He is Christ in me, the hope of glory, for which He enables me to commune with Him daily.
I say that the key of David was given to the watchmen because those who watch can't watch if they don't know who to watch for. It is my prayer that I be as one who makes my home in the place of intimacy, so I can recognize this GodMan when he returns. I want my heart burning in the watching and waiting. I want to be enslaved by the will of God that I could have what Paul speaks of, liberty. Let my daily bread become the scroll.
As I am writing this I realize these desires aren't new... they've been heard before, and prayed before. And though this quest is a yoke, it's a yoke of love, and because it's of love, it's easy too. I don't want the striving of my flesh to be the thing that propels me to reach the destination for this pilgrimage, but I want the stillness that leads me to the experiential knowledge of Christ.
This stillness He is beginning to lead me into is found in having no other attachment to the things and people of this world. They are not my home. Home is in the House of the Lord in which He stretched out His arms on Calvary to welcome me in. He is Home. And I want to be in Him and Him alone. Any other attachment to anything else deems itself as trivial and temporary. And I believe once I get to that place of taking comfort in His Home, I can really be at that place of stillness and rest because nothing else matters.
Alright, with all my ramblings aside, it's a Sunday afternoon and I smell garlic bread. Enough said. Hope you all have a great Sabbath!
Grace and Peace,
michelle
