Tiptoe through the Splendor

Eagerly Expecting

"Do you want to hear something good?" asked my friend Gina the other day.  "Sure," said I. 

"Well, here it is," she said, "a definition of hope.  Hope is EAGERLY EXPECTING to see God's goodness."

Eagerly expecting!  That sounds an awful lot to me like a treasure hunt, like being six on Easter morning with a basket in my hand and a green spring lawn before me.

That sounds like a new mother with the nursery prepared and a few weeks left to wait.

Like a four year old the night before his birthday.

That sounds like David the psalmist when he wrote and sang, "As for me, I SHALL behold Your face in righteousness", and "I have set the Lord CONTINUALLY before me", and "weeping may endure for a night but JOY COMES in the morning"!

It sounds like Job when he said, "But as for me, I KNOW that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will takes His stand on the earth...Yet from my flesh I SHALL see God; whom I myself SHALL behold, and whom my eyes SHALL see..." (19:25-27)

Or like Moses, or Joshua, or Isaiah and all the other prophets, like Daniel who in his terrifying vision "kept looking" and "kept looking" and "kept looking" until he finally saw what he had been looking for, the Glorious Victorious One seated on His throne; like Paul who said there is nothing in all of life or death or all creation that can separate us from the love of God; like John who saw the great Omega, the Expected One, sweep in the grand finale to all of earth's history.

Or like Betsy ten Boom in a German prison camp, lifting her eyes above the degradation to watch the unfettered flight of a bird across the open sky.

Eagerly expecting. Like the Expected One Himself, who before the darkest night of His existence told us when we see all kinds of havoc and chaos and cause for fear to Lift Up Our Heads--LIFT UP OUR HEADS, y'all, not hide under a blanket; to LOOK UP because our redemption is approaching!

I have difficulty knowing which of all my favorite poems is my ultimate favorite, but this one by Amy Carmichael may quite possibly be it:

"Do we not hear Thy footfall, O Beloved,

Among the stars on many a moonless night?

Do we not catch the whisper of Thy coming

On winds of dawn, and often in the light

Of noontide and of sunset almost see Thee?

Look up through shining air

And long to see Thee, O Beloved, long to see Thee?

And wonder that Thou art not standing there?

And we shall hear Thy footfall, O Beloved,

And starry ways will open, and the night

Will call her candles from their distant stations,

And winds shall sing Thee, noon and mingled light

Of rose-red evening, thrill with lovely welcome;

And we, caught up in air

Shall see Thee, O Beloved, we shall see Thee,

In hush of adoration see Thee there."

Until that greatest of all days, if I am watching, if my heart is paying attention, I know that by the end of today I will have my basket full; that I will have sweetnesses and goodnesses and lovingkindnesses to savor when I put my head on my pillow tonight! 

Happy Every Day, peeking around and under and between, living life on tiptoe! 

Looking and Seeing

"Blessed are your eyes because they see ...", said Jesus to those who were gathered around him after one of His parables. 

Those same ears had also just heard Him describing the condition of many:

 

"While seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, 

  nor do they understand.  

  And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

  And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

  For the heart of this people has become dull,

  And with their ears they scarcely hear, 

  And they have closed their eyes, 

  Lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

  And understand with their heart and return,

  And I should heal them.'"  

(from Matthew 13:13-16)

Very, very sobering words!

I pondered the amazing life of Jesus, lived purely and for others, abounding with supernatural works, foretold and anticipated for centuries by the ancient prophets.  I became aware in a new way that all the people who followed Him around saw the same miracles, heard the same words, and yet came away with different responses.  His works could not be dismissed, but there were those who when they saw them worshipped God and were filled with joy and renewed life, while others could only attribute His power to the devil.  No matter that He did only good, loved the laws of God and knew the scriptures more intimately than any they had ever known.  They were as oblivious as a stone being offered a rose.

I prayed then, as I have prayed many times since then, "Don't let my heart become dull!  Let my eyes be eyes that see, and my ears inclined toward You in such a way that I can hear."  

The preceding parable in Matthew was one familiar to us, of the seed sown into four types of soil: hardened ground, shallow ground, better ground but where weeds choked out the fruit, and "good soil" that eventually yielded a rich harvest.

I am writing about this whole idea of seeing but not seeing because I have come to believe that it is only with intentionality--actually, courageous determination-- that we will make it through the gauntlet of not only the wearying normal cares and pressures of life, but the debilitating materialism of our culture, the frenetic pace that we attempt, and the superficial externality of our world, without our hearts becoming dull, and the precious seeds of life sown well and received eventually "choked out" as in the parable. The Lord, in Jeremiah 2:5, described His precious ones as having walked after emptiness and having become empty themselves.

Dr. Luke, in describing Paul's experience that so revolutionized his world, described literal scales falling off his eyes when he received prayer for recovery of his sight, in keeping with the internal work that had been going on in his heart for days.  We observe Paul so valuing this capacity to truly see that we find it part of his language from then on:

"darkened hearts" (Romans 1:21)

"blinded minds, unable to see the glory of Christ"  (II Cor.4:4)

"...a veil lies over their heart..." (II Cor. 3:15)

"the One who has shone in our hearts"  (II Cor:4:6)

"But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 

... we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord..."  (II Cor. 3:16,18)

And of course from his profound prayer recorded in the Ephesian letter:

"I ... do not cease [to pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 

may give to you a spirit of ... revelation in the knowledge of Him.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,

so that you may know what is the hope of His calling,

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe..."

(1:16-19)

Jesus charged His loved ones at Laodicea (Rev. 3:18) to anoint their eyes with eye salve, so they could see once again!

How we need to come to Him more than once or twice for eye salve in our journey here on earth!

All this to say that this blog is not about hugging trees and getting a stiff neck taking in the night sky. It is about having hearts that stay so tender that the handiwork of our God, in the spirit and in the natural world around us, in the depth of His word and in the intimacy of His presence, never ceases to take our breath away.  It is about finding delight at the most demanding moments in the shimmering translucence of the leaves created by the One we love, or the summer clouds amassed over the gridlock when we lift up our eyes, or His Spirit stirring life in our hearts. 

 

Over a million people left Egypt in an unprecedented, historically massive escape from slavery. Yet all that the majority of them ended up seeing was endlessly looming hardship, while Moses sang, 

"Who is like You, majestic in holiness,

Awesome in praises, working wonders?

In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed;

In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation."

And at the end of his life: 

"There is none like the God of [Israel],

Who rides the heavens to your help,

And through the skies in His majesty.

The eternal God is a dwelling place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms." !

 (Exodus 15:11,13; Deut. 33:26,27)

"Keep yourselves in the love of God", wrote Jude.

"I have inclined my heart," wrote the psalmist, "...forever, even to the end."

"My soul keeps" (cherishes, savors) "Thy testimonies, and I love them exceedingly." (119:112,167).

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the springs of life." (Proverbs 4:23).

And Jesus charged His friends to remember at the worst of times to "lift up [their] heads" and to "look up".

That is the real longing of my heart; to not gain the world at the expense of my soul, my personhood created by my Creator; to not lose my way in the tedium and the minutia of the tyranny of the urgent, or in the momentum of impending doom, and forget to look up and to truly see.  In seeing, there is refreshment, restoration of soul, the quickening of our hearts to be transcendentally loved and to love in return.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

Their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to day pours forth speech,"  (are we listening?!)

"And night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

[But] their sound has gone out through all the earth, 

And their utterances to the end of the world."

(from Psalm 19)

We are surrounded, above, around, beneath, and in our own hearts, with the signs of His goodness and glory.

"Blessed are the pure" (uncluttered, uncorrupted) "in heart, for they shall see God."

(from our own Beloved, Matthew 5:8)

 

My Thoughts Precisely

"Every experience of beauty points to infinity."  --Hans Urs von Balthasar

" 'Monseigneur, you are always eager to make everything useful, yet here is a useless plot.  It would be much better to have salads there than bouquets.'  'Madame Magloire,' the bishop replied, 'you are mistaken.  The beautiful is as useful as the useful.'  He added after a moment's pause 'Perhaps more so.'"

From Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

"Yet [the day] was not complete if cold or rainy weather prevented him from passing an hour or two in the evening,...in his garden before going to sleep.  It seemed as though it were a sort of rite with him, to prepare himself for sleep by meditating in the presence of the great spectacle of the starry firmament.  Sometimes late at night, if [the others] were awake, they would hear him slowly walking the paths.  He was out there alone with himself, composed, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies,  moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations and the invisible splendor of God, opening his soul to the thoughts that fall from the Unknown.  In such moments, offering up his heart at the hour when the flowers of night emit their perfume, lit like a lamp in the center of the starry night, expanding in ecstasy in the midst of creation's universal radiance, perhaps he could not have told what was happening in his own mind; he felt something floating away from him, and something descending upon him; mysterious exchanges of the soul with the universe.

He contemplated the grandeur, and the presence of God; the eternity of the future, that strange mystery; the eternity of the past, a stranger mystery; all the infinities hidden deep in every direction; and, without trying to comprehend the incomprehensible, he saw it.  He did not study God; he was dazzled by Him.  He reflected on the magnificent union of atoms, which give visible forms to Nature, revealing forces by recognizing them, creating individualities in unity, proportions in extension, the innumerable in the infinite, and through light producing beauty...

He would sit on a wooden bench leaning against a decrepit trellis and look at the stars through the irregular outlines of his fruit trees.  This quarter of an acre of ground, so sparingly planted, so cluttered with shed and ruins, was dear to him and satisfied him.

What more was needed by this old man, who divided the leisure hours of his day, where he had so little leisure, between gardening in the daytime and contemplation at night?  Was this narrow enclosure with the sky for a background not space enough for him to adore God in his most beautiful, most sublime works?  Indeed, is that not everything?  What more do you need?  A little garden to walk in, and immensity to reflect on.  At his feet something to  cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate on; a few flowers on earth and all the stars in heaven."

--Ibid

Personal Note

Obviously months have passed since the first post on this blog, months in which "the beauty of the Lord" has brightened more moments than I could possibly describe: in the faces on newborn infants, in the impartation of strong hope, fresh vision, and new strength, in the revelation given at the homegoing of a dear friend, in the indescribable golden stillness of evening.  Yet I find myself at a loss when I try to capture these beauties with words.  

So the following posts will contain, for the most part, excerpts of writings (some of them from favorite authors or poets) that have comprised some of the countless graces that from the past right up to the present have quickened my heart because someone has succeeded in capturing with words glimpses of what I also know of "the splendor of the King".

For the most part I would like to let each of these stand on their own, without comment from me, with the hope that they will refresh you and point you also heavenward!

"TOO HIGH FOR ME

by Amy Carmichael

I have no word,

But neither hath the bird,

And it is heard;

My heart is singing, singing all day long,

In quiet joy to Thee who art my Song.

For as Thy majesty, 

So is Thy mercy,

So is Thy mercy,

My Lord and My God.

How intimate

Thy ways with those who wait

About Thy gates;

But who could show the fashion of such ways

In human words, and hymn them to Thy praise?

Too high for me,

Far shining mystery,

Too high to see;

But not too high to know, though out of reach

Of words to sing its gladness into speech."

New Year's Peace

The banks are breaking; the oceans are rising; there are several wars going on; and the sun is shining from a magnificently blue sky. 

Blessed are You, O Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth, in Whose love and unshaken strength we live and move and have our being.  How our everydays are calmed in the great everlastingness of You!

Today, in the midst of so much breaking and crashing around us, You call me to lift up my eyes, for You are my glory and the lifter of my head.  My meagerness is enriched in Your endless grandeur, in the scope of Your heavens, the in beauty and order of Your infinitesimal details.  

By Your very being, You exalt the lowly; You exalt me.

Today, the first day of the first 2009 AD in the history of our world, I rest in You, and gaze with wonder on Your splendor.

Deep Breath

and here goes! a dip into a Whole New World, at least new to this keeper of the time-honored traditions of ink and pen!

I hereby dedicate these scripts to those who have purposed to live life with a tender heart, and who believe, as I do, that there is offered to us a spiritual mandate to guard within ourselves a sense of wonder and awe. "One thing have I desired; that will I seek; to behold the beauty of the Lord.." (King David). One Thing. I have found that one thing to be worth holding tightly, fighting back the forces in life that would reduce us to the mere mundane and snuff out the light of dreams. I want to look through eyes that see, that behold.

I believe in goodness. I believe in life. I believe in holiness, in purity, in the sacred. In kindness and gentleness, in love, in meekness, and in patience. I believe in beauty. And I believe in the immediate and the ultimate triumph of right.

I believe that we walk through a world that was created with love in every detail, and that we are surrounded by absolute Splendor.

At this moment the sun is rising, and I'm off to tiptoe through the morning light. I'll be back!