Where do you go for sanctuary? Is it a place? A song? A person? A habit? A memory? A belief? A faith you claim? All of the above?
How deep do you go in your oasis? Could you stay a while? Would you want to drown there?
How big is your heart? How deep can it be cut?
Without giving away all that I am, I can safely say, on any given heartache or stress beyond my understanding, I’ll admit I like to get lost in the music and lyrics of U2. I’m pretty sure they wrote the lyric “Let me in the sound” just for me.
Yes, I like to be transported away from hurt or disappointment and into what I call my “Happy Place”. Their music soothes my soul and puts my mind at ease when the chaos of life sometimes surrounds me. I think it takes me somewhere else: Another time, another place.
It doesn’t take me long once I start strolling along in my own personal oasis, until I bump into my new best friend; inspiration. I love hanging out with inspiration, because then we usually grab two of my other great friends:
Lens and Pens
Grab a camera. Jot a thought. Savor this moment. It is your reference material for life.
Yes, whenever I’m in my oasis hooking up with inspiration, I find I get in touch with my inner artist for a while. And you know what? I kind of like her.
I meet me. The real me. I think I find the me that God actually intended me to be.
May you find peace in your oasis today!
And for you who need a little U2 encouragement today:
It happened. That thing you hoped wouldn’t. You know, that thing you had no control of.
In writing and in life, I keep coming back to this theme: We are not in control.
Words are flowing out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
First the tears fall down your cheeks. Tiny pools of sorrow dampen the floor.
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me
There was nothing more you could do. You did your part. You did all you could. The rest is up to God. You still believe God, don’t you? Yes? Good. Then there is no problem here.
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Still, it’s not fair! Your spirit rebels. I’ve got this, my child. It’s not right. You cry out because you’re hurting. I’ve got this. Let it go. Do you trust me?
So you cry. You cry until you feel dry. There are no more words left to say. This was never about you and what you wanted. It falls under the category Higher Purposes. My ways are higher than your ways you recall. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
Truth seeps in. Doubts sit down for a while. Cracks of light break through your tears given sufficient time to fall. Your heart fell into darkness momentarily, but the light is slipping in and the dark is being forced to flee.
Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
I’m not sure I understand this at all God. You don’t have to. You just have to let go and trust me.
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
I can’t think this one through. I can’t find the reason to this one question: Why?
You don’t have to have all the answers if you trust in Me.
Fine then. I’m trusting You! I’m stepping out in faith. I’m leaving the comfort of my sorrows.
Choose to be joyful. Be grateful. Be a light to others.
Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Several increments of time later: You’re right. I think I’m going to make it. Even with scars, I’m going to be okay.
Indeed you will my child; indeed you will.
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Something’s gonna change my world
Lyrics to “Across the Universe” (center text) – The Beatles
There’s crack in everything; that’s how the light get in. – Leonard Cohen
“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.” – Madeleine L’Engle
(PHOTO WAS TAKEN AS I LOOKED DOWN FROM MY HOTEL BALCONY IN ATLANTA, GA — 2/2009)
Have you ever loved someone blindly? Totally. Completely. Uncontrollably. Without question. Without promise of return. Yes, love is indeed blindness. It IS indeed drowning in a deep well.
You know you may crash and shatter if and when you hit the glass bottom. But, oh the ride. The fall–that’s where the joy is. If you’re not sentimental or romantic, this may not pertain to you. But if the depth of your capability to love reads like a large number squared, you may find the geometry of this endless well mirrors the endless deep of your heart.
Love is clockwork. But not the span of time we’re accustomed to. It stretches across eternity and lasts longer than we do.
Like geometry, love is an ever changing shape as it searches to find the size of itself and the relative position of proximity to others throughout time and space.
Love is more than a feeling. It is a truth, put into action. It is verb; it gains momentum as it is applied.
We seek to love others in life and once we find them we go to endless lengths to hold on to, to possess, to magnify and multiply love’s magnificence. Still we may fall short and ultimately time is a thief we can’t avoid.
Love is a dangerous idea that almost makes sense. It’s the light that chases all that is dark away.
All this love, all this depth — where does it come from and where will it go when our time is over? I think I know. Do you?
LOVE IS BLINDNESS — U2
Love is blindness, I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my heart, love is blindness.
In a parked car, in a crowded street
You see your love made complete.
Thread is ripping, the knot is slipping
Love is blindness.
Love is clockworks and cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel.
Squeeze the handle, blow out the candle
Love is blindness.
Love is blindness, I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my love,
Blindness.
A little death without mourning
No call and no warning
Baby, a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense.
Love is drowning in a deep well
All the secrets, and no one to tell.
Take the money, honey…
Blindness.
Love is blindness, I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night around me?
Oh, my love,
Blindness.
To Listen to The Edge Sing This (From “The Sky Down” DVD) Click Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwqXZ6wg1pA
1 Corinthians 13:3-10 What Love Is (The Message Bible)
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
It’s these same themes I keep revisiting in writing and especially in life in general:
We don’t really have control; it’s always been an illusion
Acceptance is the only way out of darkness
There’s no such thing as coincidence
When we know this at our core, life gets easier. Clarity comes into focus. You start realizing every prior moment in your life was orchestrated in such a way to bring you to this one. What will you do with it? What will you do now?
Most people hit a point in life where they start asking the big questions:
Why am I here?
What is it that will make me truly happy?
Is this all there is?
Will I get the rough relationships smoothed out?
Will I obtain the desired relationship I don’t yet have?
Will I accomplish my goals professionally?
Will I have time to make my dreams come true?
Will I accomplish these things before my time runs out?
Externally, do I present myself to others the way I view myself?
More than ever, we now live in a world of disconnect. We find out about new babies, weddings, funerals, and news of the world and news of those we love by way of social media. We respond in equal measure with our affirmations of LIKE or by hammering a few words out as a reply. If we don’t respond, we can always feign ignorance. We can pretend we didn’t see something we don’t want to know or deal with. No one else is the wiser.
We disconnect from others, but more so, we like to disconnect from the discomfort of having to answer hard questions about our life. We become too busy to find the answers.
But are we living true? Are we at peace?
There are two possibilities we receive when attempting to answer questions where the answer isn’t yet clearly revealed:
Anxiety or Acceptance
Anxiety usually involves stewing, ruminating, playing a situation or conversation over and over in your head. Rewind; play, repeat! Each time it replays, new details emerge and our anger and our fears become embellished. Before long we are living in non-truth. I’m convinced at my core that is where our feelings of unworthy, unlovable, undeserving, unforgiveable, and our inability forgive or move on lie. Yes, where they LIE. We are created to live in peace and be at peace, but sometimes we live as if we are the main characters in M. Scott Peck’s People of the Lie.
Acceptance is freedom! It means giving up control of others or having to know the outcome of things. Acceptance allows good to come into your life because you are open to it. You’ll be free to notice beauty, goodness, love, and truth in the smallest of things in life. You will realize that there are no coincidences, and that even bad moments can be used for good, if you can have proper perspective. Positivity, wisdom, empathy, and love first start with acceptance of the way things actually are.
Easy to say, but how do you transition from anxiety to acceptance?
Oh, if only it were easy. This is life’s great journey. There are thousands of books in the self-help section. There are motivational speakers, there’s church and the Bible and other holy books. There are therapists, psychiatrists, musicians, artists, and friends all who are happy to give you their two cents worth.
How do you usually first respond to challenges?
Emotionally–You immediately feel angry, hurt, or a strong need to defend your position.
Logically–You need to explain and rationalize and get to the bottom of why or what now.
Well, maybe the answer is spiritual in nature. Sometimes the big questions do involve our faith—faith in God, faith in ourselves, and above all faith that God is actively involved in our lives and situations. If we are courageous enough to believe that, than our need to control life and find justification in our feelings and responses diminishes.
We can just live aware of each moment. We can take a step back and WAIT. Wait before feeling or speaking or explaining. We can wait for wisdom to show us the right way to respond.
Bono’s right when he sings “I’m not easy on my knees” in Love and Peace or Else. In the next line he sings, “Here’s my heart, you can break it. I need some release, release, release.” Indeed! Sometimes God allows things that crack our hard hearts of stone. Those with tender hearts of glass are even more easily shattered. The next part is up to us. It’s our Moment of Surrender.
I hope you will able to surrender that which is hard, or hurtful, or defies explanation. When we finally can surrender or let go, we are able to find the rhythm of our soul; we can live in peace and live true. I’m convinced once we are able to surrender; we lose our chains. Then we can then let God’s love and light in our life, and then live our life as mirrors by reflecting to others all we’ve been blessed with.
Open your heart to the rhythm of yes. Surrender. You too are loved.
At the moment of surrender
I’m falling to my knees
I did not notice the passersby
And they did not notice me
I’ve been in every black hole
At the altar of a Dark star
My body’s now begging
Though it’s begging to get back
Begging to get back
To my heart
To the rhythm of my soul
To the rhythm of my consciousness
To the rhythm of yes
To be released from control
Who do you follow? Click on Faces on Facebook, blogs, websites, YouTube, people, pets, places, ideas, or ideologies and chances are there’s a LIKE, SHARE, or FOLLOW button attached to it.
I’m a bit of a U2 fan. OK, maybe too much so sometimes. It’s just that I really in truly love their music more than ANYTHING else around. It’s just me, my personal preferences. Besides the technical genius of the Edge, the backbone and muscle found in Larry and Adam, you’d have to be fairly unaware in life to not know the lead singer and some say heart of the band is—Bono. Even that’s debatable because most U2 fans know what makes the band endure through the decades is that each member is absolutely vital to the other. Bono just happens to be the person in front.
A year ago today I met Bono. I just happened to be in NYC, a place I’ve only been to three times in my life. He just happened to be at the Letterman Theater outside my hotel on my last day in NYC. I didn’t know U2 was in town, even more, just outside my hotel across the street a few feet away. I found out randomly when I overheard another hotel patron telling her friend that they were in town.
I ran across the street and tried to get Letterman tickets. I waited in line, interviewed, and didn’t get picked. I left and did some sightseeing with my adult daughter in Battery Park. We came back, and I went to the theater one more time where Letterman was filming. Everyone had showed up. There were no extra tickets; I was told I didn’t need to stay. I knew Bono and The Edge were inside. I wanted to meet them; I wanted to meet Bono!
I was beside myself with excitement. I sort of felt like a cross between the swooning moms who fainted over Elvis during my childhood and young teens who camp out and fast for days for a change to meet “The Bieb-ster”. I ran back to my hotel to change and brush my hair. I was determined to find a way. Then I started calming down. Then I started crying. What’s wrong with me?
HE’S ONLY A MAN
Suddenly, there was a fire drill only on our floor. I had to evacuate anyway. I thought maybe, just maybe I’d go downstairs one last time and see if anything was going on in the back of the theater around the corner. God? What are you trying to tell me?
He’s only a man my child. He’s definitely not Jesus. He’s Bono, but at the end of the day, he’s still a man.
I quit running. I started walking instead. I told God something important: I know!
So I surrendered. If it was meant to be—fine. If not, I could live with that. Only four days prior, I had driven from this same hotel to see U2 in Philadelphia. It was my third and best U2 concert of all. Don’t be greedy with your blessings Liz!
I got there in the nick of time. I had a blast and made some quick connections with other U2 fans; or as I sometimes say, “I found MY people!”
The backdoors opened. Out walked the Edge and then Bono. Then it happened. I met Bono! I wasn’t shaking. I wasn’t falling down. I was able to speak coherently. He’s just a man. But for a brief second in time, I saw his eyes and perhaps he saw mine. I told him to tell Nelson Mandela Happy Birthday. I found out later, he was on his way to have lunch with him, but I didn’t know that at the time. I wasn’t inside the theater when they were taping. I just knew.Because sometimes our souls just know. I knew how close they are, and I remembered the audience singing Happy Birthday to Nelson at Bono’s request four days earlier in Philadelphia.
Then he said what I still refer to as just one word: Yeah!!!!!
Yeah (YES)! YES is such an affirmative word. It may sound cliché, but I knew in my heart that day, it was time for me to start saying yes to pursuing some dreams I’ve carried around for a while. It was as if God was whispering,
Your dreams can be a reality! Why do you even doubt?
Not because I met Bono, but because sometimes God just comes down and blesses you with something amazing, that you didn’t deserve, that you wouldn’t have seen coming in your wildest imagination.
At the end of the day, and the whole of my life, I am a U2 fan to the core, especially Bono. But I actually follow WHO he follows. I think that’s why I and millions of other fans connect so deeply. It’s more than even U2’s great music. It’s their connection to those that suffer in this world and making us not just aware, but challenging us to do. To start where you are, and to branch out, that is the key.
Yes I’m a fan of U2, so I’ve hit my fill of LIKE buttons and commented volumes.
But I FOLLOW Christ, not perfectly, but absolutely, and that’s something I really want to SHARE. Christ forgives, redeems, saves, loves, challenges, and changes us IF we let him. Only God knows what plans He has for you though we’re guaranteed a few things as we go: tragedy, triumph, love, loss. So how do we survive it all?
Love. Pray. Hope. Persevere. Trust.
I’m many things—a wife, a mother, a friend, a daughter, a sister, and a writer. I’m a fan of U2. I’m a follower of Jesus—like my brother Paul, we are ONE in Christ. And that’s reason to REJOICE!
NOTE: I’ve read these quotes. They can be found in these books, great reads for U2 fans regarding Bono’s views and struggles in his faith walk.
I am going to go way out on a limb here, but hope you will stick with me to the end. I want to ask you something.
How deep do you want to be loved?
I’m also going to be unashamedly real in my answer. THIS MUCH! No, I take that back, even more! For fans of U2, this song certainly has such a life of its own and certainly connects with people spiritually—yes, men like it too, not just women. U2 has said its “goal is soul” and this chart-smasher proves it.
Let me talk about something else though. Sometimes a person just can’t deliver the goods. Not your mate; not a rock star, not your best friend, not even yourself, no one! The thing is we are human, and thus limited by our humanity.
In our most giving capacity, we can’t totally be the very thing that someone else needs or wants from us, or more painful, we are capable, but we willingly hold back. Yet the most painful of all, is even if we love with all of our soul and being, we still fall short, because of this one simple fact:
We can’t sustain it. Time promises this.
We can’t sustain the intensity because we are constrained by time; the best moments can’t last. Those perfect moments in life are also the cruelest because they don’t and can’t last, and some of us chase them until the end of our life, trying to recapture or recreate them in all their significance and magnificence, in the way we perceive beauty. Yes, sometimes we need it like a drug.
Herein lies love’s curse: I can’t live—with or without you.
Hear me right. This goes beyond sex or friendship or passion or reason. It cuts right to the core of who we truly are. It’s the deepest part of our soul that can almost seem misunderstood by others. We can’t even form the words that describe our desire for this love, this way to be loved.
Perhaps the closest word is perfect. We want perfect love delivered perfectly! No drama, no conditions, no expectation, just pure andperfect love. This is the dilemma of our lives as we chase what we never had, what we thought we once had, or fight to maintain what we appear to have (if only to us).
Like the song says, “we give ourselves away.” Indeed. We give ourselves away as we work and we live and we do—everyday. The sands in our hourglass fall a little bit faster each day. Most of us push ourselves constantly past expectations—both of ourselves and others. Still, it’s not enough. In our most satisfied moments, we want just a little bit more.
This weekend I watched a mom and her children I’ve known for years bury their dad and husband. You didn’t have to be their best friend, to grasp the depth of their loss. The rawness of their fresh pain ripped everyone. We all want to do something to spare them from this; we can’t. It’s because on earth, we can’t keep it. Either way the best love will eventually be stripped from our open arms or our clenched fingers. That’s why we don’t need to manipulate, control, trick, smother, beg, or insist for another to love us perfectly. That only insures us they won’t or can’t.
Believe me my heart struggles with this, but my head knows this: Another human beingcan’t love youdeep enough or long enough. There has to be more.
There is. God steps in. Yes, God–the be all and end all of the perfect love we crave. This too is hard, because we’re walking and loving not by sight, but by faith. We’re walking and loving by truth and promises, not by what we feel.That’s a heavy thought, but a freeing reality that makes our burdens lighter to carry.
Somewhere in the heart of all us, if we’re honest, is the little boy or little girl who just wants to be held, to be pulled in close, and to be looked in the eye so deeply you can see our heart. We want affirmation that we are good, we are loveable, and that it is seen by someone bigger than us.
U2, both their music and especially their front man Bono, seem to master this “soul-connect” with people by expanding the invisible thread that connects our hearts to one another. The truest, ok maybe the sanest, of U2 fans know this: It’s not about Bono or the band or even the amazing music itself, it’s the love that comes from a higher power, and they’re just fellow travelers like us, mere humans, who allow it to pass through via music, lyrics, and most of all— heart.
Every good song, concert, moment, or relationship concludes. So what’s left?
God’s love is the cure. It transcends space and time and imperfection on our part. We just have to get our head and our heart around it sometimes. May you travel light, find your song to sing, love people, and live well!
For me, I take it on faith that perfect love exists because there is a God, He is good, and He loves us. There are some of my favorite scriptures on love and faith:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrew 11:1
We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? Romans 8:24
There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (ISV)
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19
On July 4th I published my post (Out of Control) Freak. I woke up that day, wrote, and got on with my day making plans for July 4th with friends and family. It seemed like another day, with the added bonus of being off work in the middle of the week. I didn’t know the world was crumbling, changing form only a few feet from my home.
In the middle of the afternoon, the hundred degree heat sat thick and heavy on the ground. The sky grew black. An explosion of thunder crashed as if a bomb went off. Severe lightening and a pounding rain assaulted the heat. Though it was ominous outside, I felt safe and secure in the comfort of my little world at home, near the half of family that was here and I prayed for my half that wasn’t here.
It appeared as if all was ok in my world, save for the barrage of fire trucks, police, and ambulances that began to flood our neighborhood. I was busy writing and didn’t know only a block away, a fellow neighbor’s home was burning to the ground. They were on vacation as their house perished in flames and smoke. I also didn’t know that just over my fence, my neighbor of seventeen years got the dreaded phone call we beg God to spare us from:
I’m sorry; there’s been an accident. Your husband was killed.
Struck was the word used. Yet he died as he lived; he was in the middle of doing something he loved. He went for an afternoon ride on his bike before they were to leave for the beach. What happens in a single hour?
A man who’s pedaled thousands of miles is struck by a truck in the middle of his ride.
Gawkers flood our street and follow plumes of smoke to see what is happening.
Pyrotechnicians are busy fusing fireworks on a platform while preparing for possible rain.
A neighbor rings my doorbell. My writing time is interrupted.
Why isn’t my daughter back from work yet?
My friend is finishing packing bags and coolers when the telephone rings.
I want to finish my tasks so I can enjoy fireworks in a few hours.
Paramedics desperately try to save a man who was hit while riding his bike.
Thunder explodes. Lightening crashes. Then the rain comes.
It’s just another day. It never is.
Control of our lives is always an illusion. I grieve for the moments I’ve lost due to anger, resentment, or frustration where I didn’t have control. I wish I could take back moments I made the wrong choice or said words I shouldn’t have. I wish I could freeze time and stay in the moments that were beautiful: The moment you hold your new baby for the first time, the moments when you intensely loved and were loved, the sweet moment your child hugs your neck and jumps up on you. We can’t; we’re out of control.
In life, sadly we get no do-overs. We don’t get to remake yesterday; we only create today. I found out by watching the evening news, something I rarely do anymore. I felt sick, but prayed for courage and walked over in the rain to see my neighbor yesterday. We shared quite a few conversations over the years. We watched as new babies were born, and chatted when the kids played at the pool. For years I smiled when I would wash dishes at my sink and watch her three rambunctious boys play with their dog and their dad outside my window.
Now there’s a good family I’d think. They lived, and they worked, and they loved. They loved Jesus, had cook outs, threw the Frisbee to the dog, and made plans for their future. But they didn’t make this one.
In a few hours, I’ll be sitting in a church, most likely crying with hundreds of other friends and family members I do not know. I’m sad and stunned by the loss of a great neighbor. I can’t even begin to comprehend their loss of a father and husband who was cherished.
I only know this: They are not alone. When I went to visit yesterday, the house was full. Full of comforting friends, grieving grandmothers, crawling babies, church ladies making food, and a sad dog wondering why all the people but no papa. I walked in, and my newly widowed neighbor was laughing. Laughing! She was briefly in a happy moment as she was showing pictures to relatives. This made me cry. I knew when she turned around, there I’d be, another face with tears that kept repeating and confirming: It’s real. It happened. He’s gone. I’m so sorry.
Hugs and tears were exchanged. My feeble words were compensated for by God’s loving grace. I was astounded by this mom’s great faith, for these dark hours where she stands and greets people warmly, clasps their hands and repeatedly says, “thank you.” I reel at the unfairness of life. I want to take this from her and spare her loving sons. I can’t. I have zero control. They are going to walk through this anyway.
This is the moment we live our faith. How do we respond when we go through what we didn’t ask for and once we are made aware of what someone else is going through? I don’t know exactly; I know I can only start with this: I pray. I ask for wisdom, grace, comfort, and time to give these things. I thank God for time we share with family, friends, neighbors, even when it’s brief. I beg God for mercy and ask for all needs to be met. I ask for this family to be surrounded by lots and lots of love, especially the long days ahead.
Every moment is indeed a gift; it really is a present. I pray today that you can unwrap the love and then give it away.
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:1-2
Though our grief is devastating, God’s grace truly is amazing.
We go through our days and tasks and relationships and in each moment, it seems we gravitate towards one of two extremes:
Fear or Faith
Joyce Meyer, a favorite Christian author of mine, teaches that fear is actually an acronym:
False Evidence Appearing Real
It’s true. So often we look at the situations of our lives and size each one up in terms of what might happen or what probably will happen. It’s so easy to become paralyzed mentally that we are then rendered immobile with our feet. We are afraid to face the difficult person or situation that lies in front of us. This plague of doubt and worry of what could happen freezes us in our tracks. We lie dormant, as if standing still somehow will allow it all to pass over us, or pass by.
It never works. Sooner or later that difficult confrontation happens anyway. The hard thing you’ve been avoiding still arrives. Though you can’t prepare for every possible outcome, there is a better way to deal mentally and spiritually. That is to face it with faith.
I hope you have it or can find it! I have not searched for an acronym on faith. But I have one of my own; it’s this:
Fully Allow It To Happen
Yes, fully allow “it” to happen. Whatever “it” is in your life. It could be the impending death you know is coming in your family. It could be the relationship you see ending. It could be the job you know it’s time to give up. But it could also be the miracles that are just around the corner, awaiting your signal to arrive. How you ask? By surrendering! Surrender having to know the outcome, and instead walking with feet that go and a heart that trusts. Live your life confidently knowing God is in control, and you don’t have to be.
And when you don’t feel it, pray it anyway. When those prayers appear to be floating around aimlessly in the atmosphere, then remember this: They are not. Your prayers are being heard. The answer is already there. Every time you feel like you are going through something alone, you are not. For there just may be at this very moment, a friend, an angel, a stranger unknown by you, who is praying for you and what you are dealing with. If not, then I pray you know in the pit of your soul, there is indeed a God, a good and loving God who holds you in the palm of His hand and is working out your situation, ultimately to the good.
God’s confirmation of good and love is everywhere: Mountains, sky, a baby’s smile, a flower in bloom, a hug, a dog who looks up to you, beautiful music. God sings and says and shines and pours out so much love on us every day. I pray you see it, take hold of it, and let it multiply in all you give away. Find the truth, beauty, and love in your life and follow God’s lead. Life is so good, so rich; may your faith prove itself and make it so.
Dang it! I missed it. Do you know what solar phenomenon happened on June 5, 2012 that will not be repeated in our lifetime? It’s not an amazing meteor shower, or even a comet, such as the beautiful Hale Bopp comet seen all over the world in 1997. It was the solar event known as Venus in Transit. Here’s how it played out: Venus passed directly between the sun and the earth, but appeared as a black dot traversing the length of the sun on a journey just shy of seven hours. For anyone that would have witnessed this event at an observatory, a museum viewing, or with eyes shielded by welder-grade sunglasses, they would have witnessed a black dot slowly making its way across the sun for approximately seven minutes from their specific location on earth.
This Transit of Venus happens every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart that part company for about 105.5 and 121.5 years. Another words, the next paired transit, won’t happen until 2117 and 2125. This means, we won’t have a chance to witness this phenomenon again, at least not in our resident earthly body.
Wikipedia informs us that this event is both predictable and rare. Predictable in that it has a proven historical track record, but rare in the fact, you have only a two-shot chance of witnessing this spectacular paired journey eight years apart. So if you missed it on June 5, 2012 and also June 8, 2004 then you will only see it now courtesy of cyber space, not celestial space.
I’m sorry I missed this because I still remember Hale Bopp, not because of the freakishly strange cult suicides that resulted from its presence, but because like a diamond in the sky, it possessed the quality of brilliance and extreme rareness. I remember seeing the comet as it blazed across the sky, as a vivid light breaking through the darkness, gently hinting there is so much more here than meets the eye. Looking up, it appeared to be a window in the sky that alludes to something beyond what our mind can surely grasp.
Strange as it sounds, when I saw it from our front porch, my first thought was how it reminded me of the Polar Express train of children’s literature—this magical train that breaks through the night, full of excited children, crossing space and time boundaries to deliver more than just Christmas gifts, but the gift of belief!
This I know to be true in life: There is no such thing as coincidence! I will repeat that until my dying day. I am a firm believer that life is not random, but intentional. We are created to witness some great mysteries and miracles in life, but they will mean little more to us than coincidence without the gift of belief.
I’ve always been enthralled by the mysteries of deep space. It humbles me, because I know that in the grand spectrum of the universe, my allotted space and time is absolutely microscopic. Think about this: Look at all you have witnessed and experienced in your own life, if only up until now: Moments of rare beauty, moments of extreme pain, birth, loss, dreams, obligations, music, love, oceans, mountains, sky, animals, and people—just a small millionth of all you’ve experienced, endured, heard, tasted, witnessed, and touched. Considering the vastness of our universe, is it mere privy that you’ve had the luxury of experiencing so much? You are not like the stationery planets that sit still, changing only on the surface. You are so much more!
You are like Venus in Transit. You are given a mind to assimilate knowledge, belief, events, faith, and experience. Are all these things just random coincidence in your life? Or will you use it and connect the dots in your life, just as surely as a master Creator has an order for the stars and planets that dot our view of sky?
Venus is named after the Roman goddess Venus that represents love, beauty, fertility, sexuality, prosperity and victory—not much–just the pinnacle of our enjoyable side of human existence.
So when I found out I missed Venus is Transit, as I read old unread emails from my museum memberships this morning, I was more than a little bummed. You see, witnessing that would have been another event I know I would have categorized as witnessing a miracle:
Love Passes By; The Sun Keeps Watch
For me, I already believe this. Love passes by. Bono knows this. In fact he wrote a book called “On the Move”. He states that love, and mercy, and God are all on the move. Love is never static! It grows legs and walks into adversity and suffering. It extends arms and hands that provide sustenance, aid, and the potential to hold someone. Love is a cure. But it is not without cost. It puts hearts on sleeves and security on the line and makes us give out of what we’re not even sure we possess. See love knows we’re going to suffer. It knows we’ll see things we’d rather not. Love marches forward anyway.
I keep a pocket full of miracles in my head and heart that no person can ever take away. Though most days I live life with feet planted firmly in terra firma in my town, my heart travels, and in in doing so, it keeps changing. It’s as though a puppet master is pulling the strings of my feet, arms, and heart, as He says, “Over here, child. Over here.” I don’t know if I want to go, or if I’m prepared. I do and don’t want to go.
But like Venus in Transit, a rare and brilliant love capably pulls my orbit across and around the Son’s light. I don’t have to know the future or my exact destination as I journey across the universe. I wish you the same: Let the power of an eternal and regenerating love and light sustain you as you move through life.
What this world needs is a new kind of army – the army of the kind. ~Cleveland Amory
The other day I was having a lovely lunch with my young son and mother. Though my mom is an extremely youthful octogenarian, she amused me when she asked, “Liz, tell me something, what does LMFAO mean when people comment with that on their Facebook page?” Oh boy! Not one who enjoys cursing in front of my mom, I told her what the acronym’s letters stood for and assured her that I never use it with the middle letter attached when someone tells me something funny.
Long after I answered her question, I was still thinking about what it could stand for. You see, in the deep cranial cavities of Liz Logic, I am kind of an acronym aficionado, if there is such a thing. When I see unfamiliar acronyms, I love to see if I can figure out what they stand for based on context of a website or article etc.
At church, we have sermon notes, with blanks left out for key words that will be divulged during the sermon. Pastor, I’m one step ahead of you; I got this one I always think to myself. I like to think I know my bible well enough, that I can guess the key words before he teaches us with an amazing sermon. And you guessed it, I often get it wrong. I see an L__________ (fill in the blank) and go ahead and put LOVE! Only to find out, the answer was Live!
It’s a mental game I play with myself, seeing if I can decipher answers before sitting still long enough to receive the answers from someone who just may possibly know more than I do.
Get to the point Liz! OK, here’s the thing. So I was pondering a better answer I could have given my mom for the off-colored acronym for a response to a humorous comment one makes on Facebook. EUREKA! It just came to me, like this, in a Liz-Flash of inspiration.
Live My Faith; Accept Others
It seems like the last year of my life has been one of the best years I’ve ever had. But it’s not because every situation in my life is hunky dory all the time. Far from it! I don’t know if it’s because the sands of the hour glass are heavier on the bottom side of my life, or God has just graced me with more wisdom, but this message just keeps ringing true these days–repeatedly!
Here’s why. I have been involved in a neighborhood bible study group with the loveliest friends I have ever known for the last fifteen years. Some of us leave for a season and come back; some simply move on to other things in life, but the core friendships remain the same. We are a platoon of moms, wives, daughters, sisters, and friends and we have seen it all and been through it all in our own lives. We’ve been through multiple deaths, births, and struggles with our families and deep within ourselves. We’ve laughed and cried together all these years and probably wouldn’t have had the strength to face some of the things we faced, had it not been for one another. Sometimes we look back, and think, how in the world did we even survive that? Only one answer rings true, but for God.
Something one dear friend said, especially grabbed me last night. She said, “You know the answer in life is just so simple.” Impossible at times to execute, but so simple to understand:
“Just love one another”
If we all could just truly love one another, and accept one another, we wouldn’t be at war within our families, or within the world, and even within ourselves. You don’t think you’re at war within yourself? Think again. Do you ever participate in self-condemnation? I’m so fat or I’m so stupid? Do you ever participate in pride, or judging others?
See, this truth is the heart of our faith–to just love one another! Where do you feel the most free in life? It’s probably in the friendships and relationships where you feel totally accepted in life, despite what they know about you, or your quirks, or your flaws, or your areas that you are working on.
We’ve learned some other things in life too. It’s not enough to just love each other in our little “holy huddle.” There is a hurting world outside just beyond the smell of our fresh coffee and raucous laughter. We know! That’s the world we always go back to when our time together is up.
Our personalities, political persuasions, professional choices, and how we school and parent our children vary vastly. Yet we are in agreement on this bedrock principal. Just love! We don’t have to beat the others in our family or in the world with bible verses. It’s not our position to save, but our privilege to share. We can share our testimonies and our faith as we understand it if asked, but ultimately it is our kindness or love (or sadly, lack of) that tells the truth of who we claim to be.
Sometimes I personally feel like I’m the worst as far as being an effective ambassador or servant of Christ. I’m so full of inconsistencies! I’m full of pride sometimes! I still sin, not only as defined in the bible, but as that voice in my head that says this doesn’t honor God. Yes, I struggle! I’m real! I think we’ve all taken turns passing the self-condemnation ball around but I also know that this is a tactic from an enemy who wishes to see us destroy ourselves, and NOT the wrath of an angry God.
At the end of the day I know God is a mighty big God. He has a sense of humor and strength that far surpasses mine. After all He’s God! He knows my obsessions, my fears, my tears, and my confessions! (Whoa…that rhyme just tumbled out!). But He does! He probably laughs and says, “There, there my precious child. You’re going to be okay. I’ve got it covered. I know ALL about this, but I love you anyway. That situation that’s making you nuts or you’re totally afraid of? It’s all going to be ok. Trust me. Be patient. Have faith. Don’t be angry at others; just love. Yes, grow in love.”
I’m still growing up. But the love comes easier these days. I don’t have to stay confined to this group or that group of people. I don’t have to put people in a category. It’d be better if I ignore any splinters in my neighbor’s eye, considering I have enough planks in my eye to build a deck, quite possibly on a ship.
Though I still get mad, and frustrated, and lose it sometimes, I’m learning I have a place to return. It’s the heart of our creator. Proverbs 4:23 teaches us “Guard your heart; for it is the wellspring of life” has never been truer than now. I’m pretty sure God doesn’t want us to build a fortress around it, as to not contaminate it, but to build bridges from it and let the love spill out into the world. I think this verse is misunderstood as to not let anything corrupt us. This is true, but I think it also means to not fear those that believe differently, those who have a different opinion of truth. I think of it as guarding your heart from falling prey to fear, cynicism, judgment, condemnation, or categorizing. Just breathe life-affirming love into others. Let God worry about the rest.
Is our faith so fragile, we could lose it by loving those that are different? I hope not. That’s not what Jesus did and it’s not what I want to do either. Though I’ve certainly been guilty of that, it’s not who I am anymore—at least I’m trying not to be that person!
For me, Jesus was perfect and I’m so not, and honestly neither has anyone who speaks in His name for the last two thousand years or so. I think He would be a lot more popular if the world could see more love from those that claim to follow Him.
Love is not to be contained, or given to only those we deem lovely or loveable. It is not reserved for the deserving, or folks like us. It’s so much more than a cliché too; it’s actually a commandment…to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, but don’t forget the second part—to love our neighbor as our self!
The world and its inhabitants have always and will always need more love and peace. Just start with you. Start now. Where is the love?
u2areloved 