Debris lying everywhere
Everything shot to pieces
One piece here
One piece there
Chaos
Death
But then
A flicker
Life?
Beauty?
From Ashes?
Isa 61:3: “To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
I heard this song the other day by Jason Gray.
And You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
The cut makes me whole
Mingling here
Your blood and my tears
As You whittle my kingdom away
But I see that you suffer, too
In making me new
For the blade of Love, it cuts both ways
As You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
The cut makes me whole
Hidden inside the grain
Beneath the pride and pain
Is the shape of the man
You meant me to be
Who with every cut now you try to set free
Come Now Set Me Free
You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
And Every day you strip me away.
CHORUS…
…With everyday
You strip more away
And You peel back the bark
And tear me apart
To get to the heart
Of what matters most
I’m cold and I’m scared
As your love lays me bare
But in the shaping of my soul
The blade must take it’s toll
So God give me strength to know
That the cut makes me whole
The cut makes me whole
Living the dream
We buy into it every day – the idea that there is always more.
We can be more.
We can have more.
We can do more.
There is a dream and God wants us to live it.
I agree. God wants to bless us and doesn’t want us to settle for second best in any aspect of our lives. But we must gain a little perspective. While we dream of the future we are still in the here and now.
Recently I’ve been feeling a bit frustrated. Frustrated because everyday life was getting me down. I know God has promised good things in the future but the meantime was rather mean. I was frustrated because I felt I wasn’t ‘living the dream.’
Then god gave me a well-deserved slap in the face.
He reminded me that
I have all these things and more besides.
I am living the dream.
Pushing through the crowd, the woman with the issue of blood found in Matthew 9 would have had to have encouraged herself to keep moving forward. No one else was there to do it for her. She was alone in her journey. What did she say to herself? I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But if it was me, there are a couple of things I think I would have muttered under my breath as I pushed my way to Jesus.
“Just one more step.”
This woman was in pain, bent over, face in the ground. It was a struggle for her to reach her healing. But by taking it one step at a time somehow the journey seems a little easier. We have no idea how far she travelled, maybe miles, maybe only a few metres – but every step cost her and each new step was just as hard as the last one. The only way I could have managed was by focusing on the next step and leaving the rest to God.
“Ignore the mess.”
This woman was bleeding and the ground was dusty. Not a pretty combination. Our road to healing and freedom is messy and mucky but if we want to reach Jesus we have to put up with that mess and be willing to be seen as imperfect by him and by others.
“I have just as much right to touch Jesus as anyone else in this crowd.”
This is the most important thing to say as according to Jewish law she was deemed unclean and therefore had no right to touch Jesus. However she did not act according to the law but according to the grace flowing from this man. She somehow knew he would not condemn her and that he would bring her wholeness. You are not under the law but under grace. with that knowledge you can forge ahead into freedom.
These are just some things that I have said to myself on my journey to healing. And I haven’t just had to say them once but over and over.
I’m interested to know what you would say if you were in the same situation as this woman.
Thoughts please…
An artist comes to the canvas with a big picture in mind. He knows where he wants to go and how he wants to end up. The big picture is always in his mind. But he has to learn to appreciate the beauty of each brush stroke. Where it is placed in relation to the other strokes. The light and shade.
In the bigger picture of my life I lose the beauty of each stroke. I’m so focused on the end product – the 5 year, 10 year plan, that I lose the beauty of today. The value of the moment I am living in right now. I have to stop wanting it to be the future and realise that “this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa 118:4).
Gathering Fragments 