originally posted on June 24th in cfBlog1:
WHEW ! Fruitfulness and obligations..... family and seasonal duties.... I always slump off from my Blog with You at this time of year, Jesus. I am so glad that You are right here in me. We never lose track of each other... only of the letters and records of the joys that You grant me through the days going by. Sooooo many things I wanted to get here to record and thank You for since last week. Post-its everywhere with thoughts and blessings and lessons grasped and Bible verses...
Anyway, let's just start with today, huh? Lessons on overcoming temptation and persistently standing in You, through to the end of a passage in life... in coming again and again and again ... yet AGAIN to win out over the enemy's tenacious opposition. Was pondering about a lot of the conversations that I have had with family and friends at all the recent get-togethers. Me and Hubbs have been really busy. I LOVE that aaaannndd I don't, too. I find that there is NOTHING as good as people to love and share with to gain perspective while gathering gifts around me that I don't necessarily have (spiritual gifts, that is. ) We are a fuller circle in fellowship and the load is shared so much more, as well as the burdens. What I don't like about being 'busy or obligated' is that I lose too much of my time that I would be spending in my journals with You, Jesus. Few, when any, of the people I spend time with are manifesting You for me. I NEED YOUR company like air in my lungs !
In reflection, while seeing lots of family and friends these past few weeks, I notice that the 'fruit of decisions rendered' has come to bear on the tree of many lives that I have shared for decades. Some fruit is excellent, generous and kind. Some fruit is self consuming, bitter and sad. I was there for the stories that lead down many of their roads. While some of us seemed occupied and more absent, at least below the radar in recent years, others seemed to be more out there, on the map and transparent. Many took questionable roads that panned out and others seemingly reasonable roads that lead to loss and suffering. Aging... it gives us hindsight, but there isn't always a reasoning in what we see.
One thing rings true to me, though, in all I witness in the lives of others, and myself. Good times or bad, flush or scrimping, lame or dancing, ... the only witness that really matters is how well someone's eyes twinkle and how their tongue wears the heart in their story. I STILL want to run from the sound of bitter anger and the grief of lying pride. There's ALWAYS opposition to the birthing or the building of life's fruit.... so, how do we wear our heart's story? Do we show a suppleness and a humility of character borne in thanksgiving and teachability? Do we credit the King of Everything with His due? Do we truly worship Him as the very breath of all we are, do and have? Are we the second man, the one that rises above the many deaths on life's roads, fueled with Your resurrection on the inside? Have we learned that love is a verb sweetly served, and even more sweetly shared, like an endless sacrifice? Do we rush to a beloved to give or do we whine to receive, still, eluded and evaded for reasons we can't comprehend?? Have we released 'ownership' and grasped 'stewardship'?
I guess those questions could pour from me all night, huh, Jesus? You know my heart, even when my own actions betray it...
I suppose the thought most dear to me right now is the need to keep my eyes on You, on Your promises and on Your Heaven. TO SPEAK THAT OUT OF MY OWN FACE with courage and diligence. There is a day, now and later, when fear and trembling become grace and glory. There is a day when suffering and sorrow DO become peace and joy. The stories that lead to that day for each of us, when tailored in Your service, look very different for all. The comfort along the way is in the lit eyes, gentle hands and evocative tongues of those who offer Your fruit in a life as the 'second man manifest.' The comfort is in those who have overcome the bumps and breakdowns along the roads they've traveled. We all seek out such company. You are the best of these. You are the first 'second man.' Lead the way, King of Glory... You are the best of me. Thanks for ushering me, in all Your gentleness, this far. You ARE THE KING OF ME.
__________________
WHEW ! Fruitfulness and obligations..... family and seasonal duties.... I always slump off from my Blog with You at this time of year, Jesus. I am so glad that You are right here in me. We never lose track of each other... only of the letters and records of the joys that You grant me through the days going by. Sooooo many things I wanted to get here to record and thank You for since last week. Post-its everywhere with thoughts and blessings and lessons grasped and Bible verses...
Anyway, let's just start with today, huh? Lessons on overcoming temptation and persistently standing in You, through to the end of a passage in life... in coming again and again and again ... yet AGAIN to win out over the enemy's tenacious opposition. Was pondering about a lot of the conversations that I have had with family and friends at all the recent get-togethers. Me and Hubbs have been really busy. I LOVE that aaaannndd I don't, too. I find that there is NOTHING as good as people to love and share with to gain perspective while gathering gifts around me that I don't necessarily have (spiritual gifts, that is. ) We are a fuller circle in fellowship and the load is shared so much more, as well as the burdens. What I don't like about being 'busy or obligated' is that I lose too much of my time that I would be spending in my journals with You, Jesus. Few, when any, of the people I spend time with are manifesting You for me. I NEED YOUR company like air in my lungs !
In reflection, while seeing lots of family and friends these past few weeks, I notice that the 'fruit of decisions rendered' has come to bear on the tree of many lives that I have shared for decades. Some fruit is excellent, generous and kind. Some fruit is self consuming, bitter and sad. I was there for the stories that lead down many of their roads. While some of us seemed occupied and more absent, at least below the radar in recent years, others seemed to be more out there, on the map and transparent. Many took questionable roads that panned out and others seemingly reasonable roads that lead to loss and suffering. Aging... it gives us hindsight, but there isn't always a reasoning in what we see.
One thing rings true to me, though, in all I witness in the lives of others, and myself. Good times or bad, flush or scrimping, lame or dancing, ... the only witness that really matters is how well someone's eyes twinkle and how their tongue wears the heart in their story. I STILL want to run from the sound of bitter anger and the grief of lying pride. There's ALWAYS opposition to the birthing or the building of life's fruit.... so, how do we wear our heart's story? Do we show a suppleness and a humility of character borne in thanksgiving and teachability? Do we credit the King of Everything with His due? Do we truly worship Him as the very breath of all we are, do and have? Are we the second man, the one that rises above the many deaths on life's roads, fueled with Your resurrection on the inside? Have we learned that love is a verb sweetly served, and even more sweetly shared, like an endless sacrifice? Do we rush to a beloved to give or do we whine to receive, still, eluded and evaded for reasons we can't comprehend?? Have we released 'ownership' and grasped 'stewardship'?
I guess those questions could pour from me all night, huh, Jesus? You know my heart, even when my own actions betray it...
I suppose the thought most dear to me right now is the need to keep my eyes on You, on Your promises and on Your Heaven. TO SPEAK THAT OUT OF MY OWN FACE with courage and diligence. There is a day, now and later, when fear and trembling become grace and glory. There is a day when suffering and sorrow DO become peace and joy. The stories that lead to that day for each of us, when tailored in Your service, look very different for all. The comfort along the way is in the lit eyes, gentle hands and evocative tongues of those who offer Your fruit in a life as the 'second man manifest.' The comfort is in those who have overcome the bumps and breakdowns along the roads they've traveled. We all seek out such company. You are the best of these. You are the first 'second man.' Lead the way, King of Glory... You are the best of me. Thanks for ushering me, in all Your gentleness, this far. You ARE THE KING OF ME.
YouTube - Switchfoot: Beautiful Letdown - Twenty-Four
"24" ~ Switchfoot ~
YouTube - 3 Doors Down - Be Like That
"I Want To Be Like That" ~ 3 Doors Down ~
"24" ~ Switchfoot ~
YouTube - 3 Doors Down - Be Like That
"I Want To Be Like That" ~ 3 Doors Down ~
Move their mountains, Jesus. Help them to come again and again and again... to wear out the opposition... to BELIEVE in You as the First, the Last and the Second man, in them.
1 Corinthians 15:45
The Message (MSG)
We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends.
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