‘Monday morning musters….’ That is, mustering the strength to get moving after several, steady days of expending much energy. I wonder…will I flap or soar?

“Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” [Isaiah 40:31] Knox writes: “They shall hasten, and never grow weary of hastening, march on, and never weaken on the march.”

The concept of waiting upon the Lord, according to Dr. Ian Bond, is derived from the Hebrew meaning of the word ‘wait.’ It means: “to bind together by twisting ourselves around the Lord Jesus Christ…” The word ‘renew’ in Hebrew means: “exchange.” So, once I’m bound together with Him, I can exchange my weakness for His strength.

Sometimes this journey with Him is euphoric, as if soaring with eagles’ wings. At other times, with adrenalin running through our veins, we run ~ a spontaneous sprint, energized by His power. But most of the time, it is a walk…a step-by-step, choice-by-choice decision in the ordinary tasks of the day.

According to Dr. Bond’s research, “the New Testament describes the Christian life as a walk 36 times. Most of us live and minister in the walk. Jesus’ greatest ministry was in the slow, common-place experience.”

Eagles have two eyelids; one, for resting and day-to-day living. Their second eyelid enables them to see 3 miles away during a storm, a storm they typically do not dodge. The older they mature, the higher they fly. The closer they are to God, the less concerned they are about things of earth. They “renew” themselves in solitude before facing the storm ~ never flying without pockets of oil underneath their wings. Contrastly, the pigeons flap their wings, trying to fly in their own strength. Thus, wasting energy.

This Monday morning mustering is only flapping. However, by binding together and twisting ourselves around Him, we will “walk and not faint.” Then run. And then soar. Even into the storm.

Under the shadow of Father God’s wing, the believer hides in total safety. If one hides in the shadow of personal secrecy, their safety is not secured.

“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

As the contrast of the two shadows unfolded, I saw that those who hid in the shadowed place of secret sins were hidden in total darkness. Darkness begets more darkness.

I saw those hidden in the shadow of the Almighty were hidden in a place that was actually filled with light ~ a light midst this Divine Shadow. The light under this shadow was illumined by His anointing ~ a presence that emanates to us while being close to Father’s heart. This supernaturally powerful field dispelled all darkness while allowing light to beget more light.

“I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him will I trust.'” The decision is ours ~ which shadow? ~ the sheltering haven, or that unsafe place of our own making? The next several verses promise the benefits of being fixed under the shadow of His wing, whose power no foe can withstand.

“Because He has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” [Psalm 91:14-16]

Many years ago, I heard the words: “Are you interruptible?” At the time of this question, I had three small children, ages four and under. A bit stunned, I wondered why the Spirit of God didn’t seem to notice how busy I was: three pre-schoolers…two of them in diapers. No one napping at the same time. Nerves frayed. Husband traveling on business two or three nights per week.

‘Interruptible’? The question alone hinted that He wanted in on my busy life. Running on fumes, I was doing all I could to manage the tiny increments of my day … and not doing it very well. In fact, I admitted to Him that I was NOT very interruptible!

Just this evening, when it seemed impossible to formulate a complete thought due to a series of interruptions, I was plagued by His question again ~ this time, with a bit more readiness! I am beginning to learn how to check in with “Headquarters” for grace.

I slipped away upstairs to pray for a huge dose of grace while admitting to Him my low fuel. Stretched across the bed, begging for five stolen minutes, I noticed two big blue eyes searching for me as she rounded the corner of my bedroom. My whereabouts were discovered! My secret intermission was ended.

Am I interruptible? Only if my life is not my own.  Can I hand over the irritations of the moment and exchange them for grace? Will He be Lord over the moments of my day? Only if I permit Him to set its priorities. Those blue eyes, that searched for moments with her grandmother, had that look: “Are you interruptible?”

“Yes, small person, who has stolen my heart…you can spend time with me. What things I deem important are really not as important as you are! I admit I may have to check in with ‘Headquarters’ quite often to smooth out the wrinkles of my soul; but, if grace is mine for the asking, I’m all yours!!”

“He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:3

You may not see it on my face nor detect it in my voice, yet sometimes my soul’s pulse weakens. Faint, little soul beat ~ tiny little blips on the screen. “Beep … pause … beep … longer pause … and so on. It’s when life’s sorrows hit hard.

Three months have passed, yet it seems like yesterday that our life on this earth changed forever. Saying “goodbye for now” to our son pulls at the heart and siphons strength right out of our core. The feelings color my world somber grey.

The Word calls it “light affliction which is but for a moment.” There’s nothing that seems ‘light’ about this burden! The moments stretch across a span as if the clock was halted in time. I can’t ~ no, I won’t move forward ~ not in this moment’s affliction. Moffat calls it “the slight trouble of the passing hour…which results in a solid glory past all comparison.” My vision no doubt is impaired, because, in this moment, I’m missing the one who once was seen.

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen … fixing our eyes on what is unseen … for the things that are seen pass away, but the things that are unseen endure forever.” Fixing my eyes on what is unseen begs a lens change.

Just verses before, Paul writes “for which cause we faint not. Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus…[vs 14]. The outward man wears down, yet the inward man is refreshed from day to day.” Fixing our eyes on Jesus surgically changes the viewpoint of the lens.

Things seen = blindness. Things unseen = lens change. 20/20 spiritual vision = eternal glory and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain.

Off to the Eye Doctor!

Our young church days were spent in rented space on the 2nd floor of a downtown building. While leaving church one Sunday, grandson Spencer, about two years old, was walking with me down the stairs to the parking lot. I reached over to take his hand so he wouldn’t risk falling. He said, “No, I can do it myself. Watch me, Maw Maw!”

He took one step away from me, so as to walk independently, and grabbed hold of his little 5″ tie. He lifted the tie up in the air as far as it would reach as he took steps downward. I asked, “Spencer, why are you holding up your tie?” to which he replied, “So I won’t fall.”

“It is the Lord who directs a man’s steps; He holds him firm and watches over his path.” Psalm 37:23 NEB

Though our grandson was proud that he’d successfully descended the steps, no doubt I was close by ~ just in case. So is the Lord who watches over us with great care. He gives His angels charge over us. As the years have passed, and Spencer has begun to drive a car ~ far riskier than descending a short flight of stairs ~ I cannot be right by his side, preventing harm. But I know Who can.

I wonder how many times I’ve insisted upon self-protection, holding myself up by my own efforts, when Father was smiling as He accompanied me through my unwise risks. I’m grateful He holds me firm.

Little notes?…let’s see…how many are there? Most all of them read the same message lately: “I love you and God loves you. You are my sunshine!” Our refrigerator door is not broad enough to display all of them, but my heart holds each one of them in view.

Our granddaughter Gracie learned that my parents used to sing “You Are My Sunshine” to me as a child. Since then, she’s written countless notes ~ and stands back and watches me smile.

At my birthday party last night, she gave me her own hand-written birthday card: “You look like you are 20.” This young exhorter made my day. She’s way off in accuracy; but right on in her childlike perspective. Oh, to see life through the eyes of a child! “Of such is the Kingdom,” Jesus said.

Other recipients are her classmates, her teacher, other teachers at school, as well as the principal. One day the car pick-up line was held up because she recognized a teacher to whom she’d failed to give one of her blessing notes.

Any Sunday morning, we’re likely to see her standing inside the door with drawings she’s made for each member of the church. You see…no one told her this just might be considered ‘out of line.’ In fact, she is encouraged by her family to spread the gospel of love. This otherwise-a-bit-shy young girl has found her grace. So she spreads it around.

“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:15

[Gracie is the artist who drew the sun for my “About” page.]

It was the first birth date of our deceased son. On this unusual occasion, I questioned whether to celebrate or to do the easy thing…lose myself in mourning? The idea came that I must honor his memory in a healthy way. I would cook a couple of his favorite foods as if he was with us; I would spend the day browsing picture albums and reminiscing. I permitted myself to think: It’s okay to not be okay. Admittedly, my ability to give thanks was at a low ebb.

Vegetable beef soup simmered on the stove as I sliced fresh bananas and crumbled vanilla wafers into sweet pudding. Tears came as I remembered doing the same so many times before. I reminisced during the early morning hours…then noticed how the day began to unfold differently than what I’d planned. Responsibilities mounted. I soon realized that photo albums were going to have to wait.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” [I Thes. 5:18]   This word rang true. I wish I could say my attitude made an about-face. But it didn’t. My soul was drying out.

Glancing over my shoulder, I read a text message on the phone screen: “Are you home? We have something for you.” Before long, the young couple walked in with a fresh bouquet of flowers ~ but not ‘the usual.’ Standing tall among the flowers, in honor of our son’s memory, were seven plastic floral picks holding pictures of him. Some of him alone; and some, with his family members. My tears flowed.

For days I glanced at the center of the kitchen table at the various poses of our son, each time my heart being deeply stirred. Eight days passed before I realized I was going to have to part with the drying flowers. My soul, having been its own “dried arrangement;” recalled how the Lord brought cheer in the midst of my pain.

My birthday came the following day, and fresh flowers were one of my treasured gifts. I quickly exchanged the dried ones for the fresh, and rearranged the pictures that honored our son’s memory.

Note to self: “In all circumstances,” a thankful heart repeatedly exchanges the dried for the fresh.

S.t.r.e.s.s. This word fuels conversation and tempts competition between people over who has the worst case of it. Stress response is simply a proclamation that my needs cannot be met without myself at the center. We’re in an epidemic in our country, because over 40 million Americans, ages 18 and over, suffer from stress, fearfulness, and anxiety.

David displays the antidote: “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.” Psalm 131:2 NAS  David composed and quieted his own soul.

In this psalm, David reveals the keys to contentment. Don’t pursue the “great things,” –things out of reach, outside our purpose–but become like a child. Stresses come when the heart and eyes are lifted up…showing off how good and powerful we feel we are, or strive to be. Yet with our heads full of facts and our lives full of rules, we find ourselves demanding relief!

When a baby is hungry, no one rests until he or she is fed. They are easily agitated ~ stressed!! A nursing baby roots around for the breast, selfishly grasping. However, a weaned child is content in his or her mother’s arms…no longer rooting around to please self, but coming to maturity. Stress must then be an indicator of a once-demanding child who is now in process of becoming one contented and weaned from the breast.

John Calvin wrote: “The stability of the world depends on this rejoicing of God in His works. If on earth, such praise of God does not come to pass,…then the whole order of nature will be thrown into confusion.”

At a recent viewing of the wholesome movie “Old Fashioned,” I could hear loud, boisterous sounds from movies in adjoining rooms on either side of our theater. The distraction pulled my thoughts away from the chosen viewing more than one time.

Many years ago, I made the choice to walk in biblical truth. That choice remains solid; yet there are ‘mental movie producers’ who offer sidetracking thoughts entitled vain imaginations. Whether I willingly choose to visit that mind theater, the sound effects draw my attention to that which God has not promoted.

I John 4:1 admonishes us to test the spirits. In our movie selections, we read the ratings and choose accordingly. However, the subtleties of ‘mental movie producers’ rein us in through that which appeals to self. The world’s rating system is no match for God’s Word. We cannot even trust our own ratings, unless they line up with the inerrant Word.

“If anyone thinks he knows all the answers, he still has a lot to learn…but if he loves God, he will open his whole life to the Spirit of God.” [1 Corinthians 8:2]

Paul warned Timothy: “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth…but will wander off after man-made fiction.” [2 Timothy 4:4] Though I choose not to judge what others watch, I’m not a fan of science-fiction nor fantasy. My personal choices are wholesome, inspiring, true-life dramas that challenge me to walk the ways of Truth.

Throughout the day, ‘mental movie producers’ bring to mind thoughts that were not God-produced. I’ll attend that theater of the mind and find my soul greatly affected. When I return to the washing of the Word, I find that I have been subjected to dark fiction. Then I ask myself: “Why did I choose to entertain myself with such lies–even for a moment?”

The mind is the battlefield–similar to a movie theater. Paul urged us to “cast down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…” [2 Corinthians 10:3-6] The word ‘battle’ implies conflict ~ conflict of thoughts. The one who wins the battle for truth is one who “casts down” those movie-produced lies that catch our attention and draw us away from Him.

I can’t stop the sounds from coming through the walls of the greater theater; however, I can choose what I entertain in the theater of my mind.

How often do we skim read, while hoping to gain deep revelation. Hurried life leaves us studying at a knowledge pace–doing the ‘cram course’–rather than slowing down to gain true insight. Instead of ‘smelling the roses,’ we spray room spray or don the cologne. Speed reading. Sprayed-on fragrance. Falling way too short.

When our pace is far too swift and shallow, it leaves beauty behind, relationships shallow, and crowded schedules fruitless. There is only One who walks the pace to grasp the beauty of this life: our Lord Jesus. And He invites us to walk with Him…

“Only in returning to Me and waiting for Me will you be saved; in quietness and confidence is your strength;……………….[but you will have none of this].” Isaiah 30:15 The Living Bible

It’s a walk with Him, not ahead of Him, nor lagging behind. His pace will enable us to capture all the beauty He has placed before us.

He crafted this world so that we could hear as He hears…birds chirping, wind through the trees, butterflies fluttering, hearts beating, eyelashes flapping, tummies growling, babies giggling, puppy tails wagging…. Yet how often we fail to tune in to these pleasurable sounds. We’re apt to tune into the complaint channels of life and finding ourselves irritated by the negatives.

“This is the way; walk ye in it.” Returning….rest…waiting…quietness…confidence…strength.