Waiting

The Sacrament of Waiting

Slowly
she celebrated the sacrament of letting go.
First she surrendered her green,
then the orange, yellow, and red
finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent, stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
she began her vigil of trust.

Shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence
wearing the color of emptiness, 
her branches wondering;
How do you give shade with so much gone?

And then,
the sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
Clothing her with silhouettes
they kept her hope alive.

They helped her understand that
her vulnerability,
her dependence and need,
her emptiness,
her readiness to receive
were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
and celebrated together
the sacrament of waiting.

by the Benedictine nun, Macrina Wiederkehr

Posted today on inward/outward

Not surprisingly, this poem really ministered to my heart this morning. It was good to be reminded that this is but a season of waiting, and as I continue to surrender to Christ, he will bring forth new life. 

To Ponder

My friend Tara sent me this quote: "On earth we are wayfarers, always on the go. This means that we have to keep moving forward. Therefore, be always unhappy about where you are if you want to reach where you are not. If you are pleased with what you are, you have stopped already. If you say, "It is enough," you are lost. Keep on walking, moving forward, trying for the goal."

~ Saint Augustine of Hippo

Walking, still.

Peace

Peace is a deep disposition of the heart.

It is humility,
an ability to let go of the need to be right
in our own eyes or the eyes of others,
an ability based on the knowledge
that our rightness or wrongness in any issue
is totally irrelevant to God’s love for us
or our neighbor.
The peace that comes with claiming our self in God
is the foundation of our ability
to carry God’s reconciliating love to others
in the most humble places
and humble, everyday ways.

I read this quote this morning by church historian Roberta Bondi and it stuck in my heart. Even as I dealt with some painful cultural challenges today, I can go to bed with peace in my heart...

So true

In the midst of trying to get the last things done for my departure this weekend, I perused my Google Reader list and found this poignant entry by my friend Mike. Actually, it's a quote from Greg Boyde's blog.

"Millions of people are abandoning the Christendom paradigm of the traditional Christian faith in order to become more authentic followers of Jesus. From the Emergent Church movement to the Urban Monastic Movement to a thousand other independent groups and movements, people are waking up to the truth that the Kingdom of God looks like Jesus and that the heart of Christianity is simply imitating him. Millions are waking up to the truth that followers of Jesus are called to love the unlovable, serve the oppressed, live in solidarity with the poor, proclaim Good News to the lost and be willing to lay down our life for our enemies. Multitudes are waking up to the truth that the distinctive mark of the Kingdom is the complete rejection of all hatred and violence and the complete reliance on love and service of others, including our worst enemies. Masses of people are waking up to the truth that followers of Jesus aren't called to try to win the world by acquiring power over others but by exercising power under others -- the power of self-sacrificial love."

Read more here.

The Inconvenience of Living Simply

From the blog of a friend of a friend, the following nugget:

"In taking steps toward simplicity you may lose some speed and convienience, but you just might get some of your soul back."

Post Script: Faith

"Faith is not the result of striving, it's the result of rest. It's yielding; you yield your way into faith. We strive only to impress people." Says one of my favorite Bible teachers, Bill Johnson.

To create...

"To create—whether photography, painting, inventing, composing, or leading—is to access that part of our brains and souls that isn’t consumed with the how. It is concerned with the essence of what is before us. It is the overflow of awareness. And increasingly, those who are the most aware in our world and who have the ability to express that awareness—those are the people who are leading our culture."

Read the rest of this article.

"How does one surf, Adele?"

For those who know the Rotich boys by now, the question undoubtedly came from my buddies, Hillary and his brothers. I was over at the Children's Home this afternoon to get some pictures of the parents for a project the US office is working on. The boys stopped me and had questions about everything from surfing to skateboarding, from being buried in snow to dogs that are trained to find people who were caught in avalanches.

"Where did you learn about all this?" I asked the boys.

"Oh, there's this book in the library... So, if someone jumps with a skateboard, is there glue on the board?"

Boys are boys, no matter where you are in the world.

I'm obviously back in Ilula. Was supposed to be in Kipkaren till Thursday morning. However, I've been asked to take the Sudan team to Kipkaren on Thursday and join an AIDS campaign on Friday, so I returned to this home today to work on projects on this side. I think it's going to make for an interesting juggle every week!

I thought I'd share a passage with you that has spoken to my heart recently, then get back to the photo projects I'm working on.

Psalm 18 (The Message)

1-2 I love you, God— you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.

3 I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.

4-5 The hangman's noose was tight at my throat;
devil waters rushed over me.
Hell's ropes cinched me tight;
death traps barred every exit.

6 A hostile world! I call to God,
I cry to God to help me.
From his palace he hears my call;
my cry brings me right into his presence—
a private audience!

7-15 Earth wobbles and lurches;
huge mountains shake like leaves,
Quake like aspen leaves
because of his rage.
His nostrils flare, bellowing smoke;
his mouth spits fire.
Tongues of fire dart in and out;
he lowers the sky.
He steps down;
under his feet an abyss opens up.
He's riding a winged creature,
swift on wind-wings.
Now he's wrapped himself
in a trenchcoat of black-cloud darkness.
But his cloud-brightness bursts through,
spraying hailstones and fireballs.
Then God thundered out of heaven;
the High God gave a great shout,
spraying hailstones and fireballs.
God shoots his arrows—pandemonium!
He hurls his lightnings—a rout!
The secret sources of ocean are exposed,
the hidden depths of earth lie uncovered
The moment you roar in protest,
let loose your hurricane anger.

16-19 But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!

20-24 God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to God's ways;
I don't take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

25-27 The good people taste your goodness,
The whole people taste your health,
The true people taste your truth,
The bad ones can't figure you out.
You take the side of the down-and-out,
But the stuck-up you take down a peg.

28-29 Suddenly, God, you floodlight my life;
I'm blazing with glory, God's glory!
I smash the bands of marauders,
I vault the highest fences.

30 What a God! His road
stretches straight and smooth.
Every God-direction is road-tested.
Everyone who runs toward him
Makes it.

31-42 Is there any god like God?
Are we not at bedrock?
Is not this the God who armed me,
then aimed me in the right direction?
Now I run like a deer;
I'm king of the mountain.
He shows me how to fight;
I can bend a bronze bow!
You protect me with salvation-armor;
you hold me up with a firm hand,
caress me with your gentle ways.
You cleared the ground under me
so my footing was firm.
When I chased my enemies I caught them;
I didn't let go till they were dead men.
I nailed them; they were down for good;
then I walked all over them.
You armed me well for this fight,
you smashed the upstarts.
You made my enemies turn tail,
and I wiped out the haters.
They cried "uncle"
but Uncle didn't come;
They yelled for God
and got no for an answer.
I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind.
I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.

43-45 You rescued me from a squabbling people;
you made me a leader of nations.
People I'd never heard of served me;
the moment they got wind of me they listened.
The foreign devils gave up; they came
on their bellies, crawling from their hideouts.

46-48 Live, God! Blessings from my Rock,
my free and freeing God, towering!
This God set things right for me
and shut up the people who talked back.
He rescued me from enemy anger,
he pulled me from the grip of upstarts,
He saved me from the bullies.

49-50 That's why I'm thanking you, God,
all over the world.
That's why I'm singing songs
that rhyme your name.
God's king takes the trophy;
God's chosen is beloved.
I mean David and all his children—
always.

What now?

A song that's spoken to my heart in the recent months is that of Steven Curtis Chapman, "What now." He sings,

I saw the face of Jesus
in a little orphan girl.
She was standing in a corner
on the other side of the world.

And I heard the voice of Jesus
gently whisper to my heart,
"Didn't you say you wanted to find me?
Well here I am. Here you are.

So what now?
What will I do
now that you've found me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?

I know I might not look
like what you've expected.
But if you remember
this is right where I said I would be.
You've found me.
What now?"

I saw the face of Jesus
down on 16th Avenue.
He was sleeping in an old car
while his mom went looking for food.

And I heard the voice of Jesus
gently whisper to my soul,
"Didn't you say you wanted to know me?
Well here I am
and it's getting cold.

So what now?
What will I do
now that you've found me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look
like what you've expected.
But if you remember
this is right where I said I would be.
You've found me.

So come and know me.
Come and know me now.
Come and know me now....

What will I do
now that you've found me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look
like what you've expected.
But if you remember
this is right where I said I would be.
You've found me.
What now?"

Choices

The speaker at the Good Friday prayer breakfast, Star Parker, said something I've been thinking about for it's profound truth.

"Choice looses
its meaning
if it doesn't matter
what you choose."

To Ponder

“I who said I would never do any work but ‘preach the gospel.’ It takes some of us years to learn what preaching the gospel means.”

From Amy Carmichael's A Chance to Die