Forward Facing

The Christian community “has its roots in the future and its branches in the present…Hope is the bridge from the future into the present and the branches of that hope are faith and love.” (emphasis mine)

I love this word picture! These quotes are from the book The Good and Beautiful Community, by James Bryan Smith.  I am reading this book with a group of ladies and this was part the chapter for the week. These phrases were what were going thru my mind this morning, as I entered the labyrinth. They point to everything being forward facing. Nothing anchored in the past, nothing being dragged from behind ~ we are all being drawn forward. No weights, just uplifted. The past can hold us where we were never intended to be.

Another quote from the book is, “they have died to the narratives that control them.” One of the false perspectives we have is that of the “past”. To fear the past, to live in the past, to choose to allow those narratives to play in our soul, is to embrace the non-existent. The lie of the evil one that turns your heart’s focus from the ties of Jesus.

In “spiritual” terms, there is no such thing as the past….at least, I don’t think the way we see it. In this life we are bound to the linear. God meets us here, He indwells all of time. All of our days have been gifted into this world from our Father on High. They come from His temple, our future. To step forward with Him is to dismiss the lie of “past” ~ it is to take on our identity as God’s child and live with Him fully in our future now. To face backwards is to embrace the past as our future, to replace our future with a lie and to accept the spirit of worry in its stead. We have the opportunity, the imperative, to live walking in the certainty of trusting our Father.

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

Psalm 32:8

When I step into the prayer labyrinth, it is such a representation of that life. The first of the path proceeds straight forward to the center, but turns as the stones move me on. I could so easily step over them, into Center, and that would be that ~ but the path does not lead that way. That is our life picture, isn’t it? He walks with us at every turn, some steps coming closer to Him and at other times the turns of life seem to lead away ~ but our Lord has laid out every step and He is in everyone of them. Our “now” comes from our future…so, in a very real way, no step of life leads away from Him.

The present only leads us to our future. At the Center, the very purpose of every moment in every day, is God leading us  to Him ~ taking us home.

Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

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