REMAINING IN LOVE

Tips of trees dipped in ice remind me that what is frozen will eventually thaw if given enough sunshine and warmth. All day we stood under a blazing blue sky watching chunks of ice fall like daggers to the ground; sometimes when ice (or emotions) defrost one can be hurt. The fact is, we wound others when we hold things in yet hope that relationship will get better by just continuing on.

At times the recesses of our hearts are filled with dark and frozen feelings that can't seem to find the light of day. I'd rather walk in the sunshine, even though it hurts to have icicles fall from the sky. Stumbling in the dark, hoping the spring thaw finds my heart, can be a treacherous, lonely path.

The glistening brilliance of branches brushed by nature's frozen hand held us in awe. How is it that we can handle almost any kind of cold as long as there is sun to warm our outlook? The woods held such raw beauty that day, such timely lessons, such comfort as the temperatures began to rise.

Could it be the same in our souls, that as we long for love to shape us and define us, we can let what is hidden be revealed and what is frigid be thawed. Love warms and sustains us in ways nothing else can, like a brilliant blue sky on a winter's day. Frozen branches never bear fruit.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. 

Now, remain in My love." 

John 15:5, 9

DANCING IN THE STORM

My frozen fountain again, piled high with winter white; no icicles, no birds, no melting, just robes of snow wrapped around her as if she were dressed for a ball. I don't dance in the storms anymore; no children come in breathless, red-faced telling tales of the tall snowman they have built. No one begs me to come sledding, making time for laughter and memories all at once.

I wonder if I have clothed myself adequately for the lingering season and the days to come? Have you? I want to reach for yesterday's tiny jam covered fingers in mine; I want to look down at a tow-headed child and not up at a growing man. Finding wonder in these moments takes an unfamiliar kind of courage- an embrace of wonder, humility, grief and grace. Letting little hands go for the sake of reaching out to your own adult is an oxymoron.

The fountain draws me because it is stationary, I can depend on her to be there, the same, yet dressed by God month in and month out. Could I somehow see He is the same; He wraps us all in glory, He is the One who sustains us. Those I love are in His keeping, reaching their hands to His, not mine.

It will take climbing a few interior steps of trust and faith to reach the loving heart of the One who will always welcome them home.

I wonder, do we trust God in the dance of life?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." 

Isaiah 61:10

ENOUGH OF THE STORMS

"Red in the morn' sailors take warning." The deep fuchsia of the dawn lit the fire of another day, one filled with fresh snowfall. Feet are piling up now as we are buried under the weight of nature's glory; I want to rejoice in God's storehouses of snow, but I am tired and a little soul weary.

 

The grey of the day has somehow entered in and I long for sun and refreshment and a break from the elements. I want Someone to renew His creation... the world and me. I am hard to live with and hard to please, my emotions are jagged and fragile, as if the icicles have pierced my heart and left me bleeding raw frustration and each flake that falls adds a weight my heart can no longer bear. It is as if the nest of my heart holds all the snow of all the storms of the whole winter.

Today as I prayed the simple words came:

"When you are hurting do not hurt others, bring Me your pain." 

I am not well-versed with the Almighty, He says things and I do not always know how this is to be done. How can one, "bring pain to God?" I carry this heavy heart to Him and He holds me and my cares.

I did see myself for a minute climb up to God's altar and lay everything there: myself, my relationships, children, cares and concerns. God simply whispered, "Ask Me to take care of your nest, brush away the snow and trust in Me." I had forgotten that He is the One who creates, loves, sustains and renews.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your altar."

Psalm 84:3

PEACE IN THE STORM

"Heart-attack snow," my husband labeled it as he entered the house after clearing the drive; heavy wet snow lined with icy layers of yesterday's storm. I can't help but think of our emotions, how the storms and struggles of life are like a continual weather pattern we are unaware of in our soul. Our lives are at stake, as we must learn to process pain and hurt so that our souls are not injured beyond repair in the excruciating hurt of families, life and relationships.

A dear friend lost her twenty-something son to a drug over-dose, their grief is like a tsunami; they pick up the shattered pieces of life to face each new day, but their hearts have been devastated by an incalculable loss; the landscape of their souls will never be the same. We rebuild, sorting and sifting sorrow with great grace.

Not many of us suffer this kind of raw grief; we deal with the day to day irritations, frustrations and conflict, yet even these take their toll. Another expected winter storm drops inches of snow on all the surfaces of our lives and we wonder, "How do we keep going in all of this?" It seems we need some kind of snow removal, a sort of way to clear the path of our emotions; it is the unstable build up that blocks the artery causing heart damage.

Peace, deep and abiding, allows conflicts to rage without compromising  our ability to continue in relationship. We can guard our hearts and minds with the peace of God; (Philippians 4:7) we can't understand it, but this peace assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not any trouble, hardship, storm or danger. (Romans 8:35) When we know we are loved we can survive anything; allow the love that God has for you to fill you and strengthen you.

Need peace to face the raging storm?


Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"Peace I leave you." Christ is all but saying, "How are you harmed by the trouble of the world, provided you are at peace with Me? For this peace is not the same kind as that. The one is external is often mischievous and unprofitable, and is no advantage to those who possess it; but I give you peace of such a kind that you can be at peace with one another, which is such a thing to render you stronger."

John Chrysostom Fourth Century

THAWING AFTER THE STORM

Interesting how snow piles up and shadows fall. On my favorite fountain the wind blows and the sun shines carving sculptures of frozen water inside and out. Events, words, memories, these all shape our hearts and thinking, causing our emotions to freeze in certain places, for good or for bad. What I long for is to see the water flowing again and the birds splashing in the morning sun; my heart cries for the same.

Inner freedom, to dance, to sing, to live from abundance, flows from an inner well that never runs dry. We are invited to live from God's unconditional love and yet we choose fear, we are given grace but slave under works, mercy is extended like a cup of cold water, yet we burn ourselves continually with the scalding heat of chastisement and expectation of punishment.

How are we set free to accept God's love and grace that we might share it with others? It begins by clearing the snow, melting the ice that has built up within, unlocking doors of resistance and allowing the truth that we are loved to open our hearts, calm our thoughts and inform our emotions.

We can't change overnight, but we can clear a little bit of ice and snow off each step we take towards another. We can remove hateful distrust, seething resentment and underlying anger replacing them with kind thoughts, generous listening and continual forgiveness. It might be time to pick up a shovel and take care of some left over snow before the next storm hits.


 The journey towards another is shorter than we realize.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

A DUSTING OF LOVE AND A DOOR OF HOPE

Snow keeps coming, like a never ending rinse cycle on our muddy streets and sidewalks. I like to think love is like that, and mercy and grace. "Life is messy," says a priest friend of mine; we find ourselves knee deep in messy emotions, reactions, relationships and families. How do we keep loving? We let mercy fall on us every morning.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning." Lamentations 3:22, 23 ESV God's love and daily mercy give us the grace to keep covering sin and keep going on. What do I mean?

Peter tells us, "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sin." 1 Peter 4:7 Ever been deeply hurt by someone? Only a different kind of love can help us to keep loving, keep trying, keep being patient when our own resources have run dry. We cannot do this on our own; our response is retaliation, self-defense (or defense mechanisms) but there is another way.

Instead of becoming a "doormat" where others walk all over us, wound us or take advantage of us, we can become a doorway. In Ireland's Saint Patrick's Cathedral there is a door of reconciliation; as I stood before it I imagined the feud, the fighting, the hating one another with no hope of resolution in sight.  When we find our sanctuary in God's love, when we are reconciled to God's love for us, we're able to reconcile to others. Courage and a deep longing for peace accompany the daring risk of reaching out in love.

Is love covering the stormy relationships in your life?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"Dear friends, since God so loved us we also ought to love one another...And so we know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God."

1 John 4:11, 16

EYES TO SEE IN THE STORM

 

Perceptions are peculiar, we each see events and hear words a  certain way when we are stressed or in trouble or have suffered trauma, as if we have to fit what we experience within a meshed grid of memories. I can't see as you see because there is a screen on my soul filtering all you do and say.

How interesting. It isn't that I like the little boxes of wire that block my view, and I don't always know when the window to my soul has been blocked off. We hear a voice, smell a certain fragrance, like bread baking, and we are back in time, a little child, comforted or not, depending on our upbringing. Memory never leaves us and can hold us drowning in unprocessed responses; be careful with words and reactions.

This is the same view without the filter, the day brighter and the scene, though still winter, isn't the dark and oppressive feel of reality confined by poor visibility. That would be the issue with continuing to react in old patterns and habits, we can't see the forest for the trees, or in this case, the trees for the frame of wire.

Trouble is we don't know when we are looking through a childhood window sill, using yesterday's emotions for today's demands; one can hardly expect  to find grace and hope in a used up pile of hurt and unmet expectation. What is one to do, then, to see clearly, listen well and love faithfully?

It begins by noticing the warped wire screen slowly sabotaging daily life and relationships. Ah, to be free of  patterns of relating and old ways of knowing and allow the grace and mercy of God to inform and transform me.

Do you have anything you need to see in a new light?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"I am making everything new." 

Revelation 21:5

HOLDING ON TO LOVE IN THE STORM

We are enjoying another day of winter's wrath as the storm blows through our region, the children have even found the snow day calculator: plug in your zip code, current days off from weather, and then you have prediction power. I wonder if there is something like this for our spiritual lives? Can we submit the trials we have been through, our current stamina and then get a guaranteed calculation for what will come?

Instead of being like a, "tree planted by streams of living water," Psalm 1:3 we are uprooted and oftentimes completely undone by the storms in our lives. Piles of flakes accumulate, our hearts break with the weight of the world and our lives crumble. Pain, bearable and unbearable, crashes upon us like the roar of the ocean, as if a Nor' Easter was let lose in our soul. How do we find our footing, clean up the wreckage, make our way to rebuilding when life has crushed our very soul?

There is a way, debris removal: take each piece of your hurting, wounded soul and hold it up to your Maker and ask, "Is this life-giving and true?" We find we are furious with God for all we have lost, and we ask, "God?"

"Yes, My child, you are angry at Me for your situation. You have needed this anger to survive and now it is time to let it go. Bring your hurting heart to Me. Allow My love to heal you. Accept that My ways are higher than your ways. Isaiah 55:9 know that I will fulfill My purposes for you and that My love endures forever."Psalm 138:8

Need help cleaning up after the storms of life? It won't be easy or quick, but God can help.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge." Ephesians 3:19

SURPRISED BY LOVE

Life is hardly ever about the surface, what's happening on the level of conversation and conflict, emotion and response; we long to know we're loved. Like a constant ever-flowing stream under our lives is one truth: we are loved. How do I know this, how can I be so sure? It is written in my heart when I wake in the morning and splashed over the life that I live. His Word tells me, "Great is His love towards us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever." Psalm 117:2  I have only to ask for the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

"Be still My Child, and know I am God. I come to you, but you are not available to hear Me and know Me. I am Love. You will be purified by my love; I sit as the refiner of your soul."

I want to argue, "I don't know what you are talking about God." I know exactly what He's referring to. I read and pray and God hardly gets a word in edge-wise. He wants to quiet me with His love, but I don't want to be hushed, I want to understand. He only guarantees He is faithful and true, like a stream of love and mercy running in the depth of our souls.

Ice floes cause such devastation, ruining ships and lives and expeditions. Endurance chronicles Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton's encounter with ice packs; amazingly no lives were lost on this voyage, but much misery was suffered and countless cargo lost. I wonder if the same is true for us?

Living in the love and grace of God allows us to maneuver water and challenges that might not be so simple. Far less damage is done in my relationships and my heart when I walk knowing I am loved. God's love is like a rudder to guide us, an anchor to ground us, like a life-jacket, that when all else fails and we are thrown into deep water, even then we will be saved because His love embraces us. And if , "God is love,"  as 1 John 4:16 says, then Love is actually our Pilot and He will see us safely through.

Been in rough waters? If you want smooth sailing rest in His love.

Medicine from Sacred Writing:

"The Eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the Everlasting Arms." Deuteronomy 33:27