Walking the Passage: Finding joy again.. finding beauty again.. Beauty does arise from the ashes... Taking a bath and washing it off

Monday, December 2, 2013

Finding joy again.. finding beauty again.. Beauty does arise from the ashes... Taking a bath and washing it off

I needed to find simple...

I needed something that would remind me of Christ.. I needed Christ... I needed to be reminded of His beauty. I needed to see His beauty.

He is my constant. Always... I love Acapella music.. Found Pentatonix the other day and have been playing this video often ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_MGWio-vc

As Christmas approaches.. There is sickness, death, sin.. sorry and disappointment that swirls around me.. The traditional push of the season towards festivities and decorating and celebrating seem suffocating.. exhausting amidst the sorrow and disorientation .. Ever ending change and disorientation in a world that offers little comfort...

I turn to simple... I turn to Him who picked up the dust of the earth and breathing His breath forged His stamp and image upon creatures that He called very good.. Tonight.. I try to see as He would see.. I try to see the "very good."

I have nothing to bring.. The truth is none of us do.. Some of us put on a better show than others but the truth is there are many great showmen out there peddling their wares...

I ache and I long for the authentic Christ to emerge upon the scene... Some would say it is going to prayer, others would say it is going to serving the poor, others would name and claim ..... Still I look for the place where the people arose and said of Christ that He was not like their scribes but spoke as one who had real authority...

The authority and love of Heaven not just coming in a moment but coming and flowing....

I need to find the place where authenticity isn't just the catch phrase of the day but a life lived.. within myself and those I would walk with....the person who would present upon the stage is the same as the person they are when they would sit in the green room ( where a morphing of performance and persona doesn't just erupt upon the stage but is lived out continuously full of a grace not taken to places where it doesn't belong .. ie, excuses for sin.. but catapults towards life.. REAL LIFE.)

He called us, "very good." He spoke over us.. "very good." He, knowing us intimately and intrinsically, proclaimed about that which He created to bear His image.. "very good."

There is joy to be found in that profound reality.. There is beauty to behold that even though tarnished and seemingly darkened.. His proclamation would be that we are all together beautiful without spot or blemish... In a time when that reality "feels" the furthest away..

I turn to the darkness, the sorrow, the death .. the sickness.. the gloom of the day and I find joy.. I find beauty.. I declare beauty for ashes... I turn to the world and proclaim that it does not get to dictate reality.. that the reality was laid firm on those very first minutes of creation and I will by His grace not proclaim something contrary to His desire...

It isn't about prayer.. It isn't about service to the poor.. It isn't about any one thing in particular it is about it all as it pertains to Christ and our Father's deepest heart's desire..

I get simple.. I cling to joy and discover beauty...

Micah 6:8 (The Message)

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

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One of my Favorite Narnian Quotes...

“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that makes you real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland.

A Brilliant Quote from Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,

but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightening about shrinking

so that others won't feel unsure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in every one.

As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.