Learning

“…and find out what pleases the Lord.” 

Ephesians 5:10

Today’s walk was full…full of quiet and peace. The very crackle of the bamboo under my feet seemed an intrusion. I took a copy of the “Labyrinth PRAYER Guide” with me, which I had not done in quite a while. The Scriptures practically jumped off the page.

It begins with Matthew 11:28, The Message Version, and in part it says to “Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace.” First, this is one of my favourite verses of Scripture.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The other thing today, is that word “learn”. It seemed to echo in my head throughout this afternoon. To learn the Lord’s Grace, unforced ~ being accepted by me into the TRUE reality of each moment. This brought my prayer to ask that He ‘search my heart, O God’. As I looked down, just under some bamboo leaves there was something sticking out, so I reached to pick it up. It was one of the little wooden hearts from the cross, on the other side of the labyrinth!

He does that, ya know. He reaches down ~ searches and finds that which is lost ~ our hearts, buried under the stuff of this world and far from His cross and He faithfully brings it back into right step with His own heart. He leads us into the Center of His will for each moment. Thank you, Lord that You search for us, find us, lead and teach us ~ O, may we learn!

Learn….the echo of the day. Another word in that phrase is “Grace”.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22 ~ NIV

Did you notice that Grace is not a fruit of the Spirit? It isn’t in that list! Grace is God working His will out in us, thru us. Grace is a Fruit of HIS Presence and Peace. A part of our learning Grace is to look for Him in all things, to “find out what pleases the Lord.” We cannot “be” Grace, or become Grace-ful. We are only Grace-filled….unforced, given over and offered UP and that is what changes our earthbound hearts.

Later, when I was typing this up, it was really sweet to see how these Scriptures from Matthew and Ephesians worked together in a paraphrasing sort of way ~

And find out what pleases the Lord by learning the unforced rhythms of GRACE….

 

Posture

Ok, so I would say that you’re going to say that I’m crazy, but I know that y’all know that already! So, let’s just jump in here…

As you walk to our labyrinth, there are lots of places that branches and twigs are in the way. I do promise that I have trimmed, but maybe not in the way that would be expected. You see, approaching the labyrinth is all about posture…as it should be with all our approaches to God.

See? There are small branches to lean under at the beginning and a whole duranta bush to bend under at the turn AND that is all before you get into the labyrinth! As you enter, there are other twigs and branches along the path and they’re left there for the very purpose of posture. There are bamboo left in the middle of the path and other things intentionally there to give us pause, to place an “intentional” step in the middle of the path.

In our lives, God does the same thing! He places the branches and bamboo right in the way...on purpose. What we often fail to see, is that He really did trim the path and make a way clear for us…we just need to seek our path in the “right” posture, in order to seek His hand at work in the path.

Let’s face it, all of us would just love to run to God with no attention to our posture…and we do. We throw prayers heavenward with no regard to our heart, just our “need”. Scripture does tell us to come ‘just as you are’ and we should, but to continue to run ‘just as we are’ over and over into the presence of our Father, indicates a life unchanged.

We need to seek a place of posture, of growth and humbled heart. It is within His presence that we are changed and molded into the posture of His child ~ One who knows his/her place in the kingdom of God’s love. That is not a place of self deprecation, serving to symbolize some sense of humbleness, or a place of good deeds….it lays “souly” in our posture.

~ Bent and recognizing that our Father loves with a Love we cannot define.

~ Yielded and seeking His desires, not our momentary wants.

~ Surrendered and open to God’s plans for our every step.

~ Enthralled with the Presence that embraces for eternity.

Our posture to receive God’s goodness is key to bringing His reality to our earthbound time. His ways truly are not our ways…

Open the eyes of their hearts, and let the light of Your truth flood in. Shine Your light on the hope You are calling them to embrace. Reveal to them the glorious riches You are preparing as their inheritance.

Ephesians 1:8 ~ The Voice