Good morning…
Sunday afternoon through Tuesday breakfast, the Holy Spirit and I facilitated a private “With God Weather Life Retreat” at the mountain home of a dear, deep friend who hosted a hearty handful of women handpicked by the LORD. Sharing our stories of brokenness and beauty, sorrows and joys, darkness and light, we journeyed side by side, as if centered by gravity on life’s parallel train tracks, running together up high peaks and down rich valleys. Up and down. Down and up. God carried us each forward, individually and collectively.
After hugging “Goodbye” more than once, the wise women drove the dirt road toward home while I stayed alone with God for a silent day of reflection and renewal, of deep prayer and discernment. I enjoyed a ninety minute hike through the woods, quietly breathing in the beautiful balm of a grey, mellow day. Following the footpath named “Pioneer Road,” I thought of a favorite Scripture verse, Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV): Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Then somewhere in the middle of the path, on the middle of the mountain, in the middle of this sacred day of silence, I looked down and saw the cap of one acorn permanently connected to the cap of another. Do you know what I am talking about? Two acorn nuts had dropped free, but the caps of the two acorns remained connected by a common stem. The two caps had become one long ago; now they remained forever inseparable. This two-in-one acorn cap reminded me of an expression lingering from my childhood learning. “Put on your thinking-cap,” our teacher would say. With this bonded, bite-sized symbol, God fed my mind verse after verse.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours (Isaiah 55:9, CEV). Yet our Father whispers, “…you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31, NIV). …we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes] (1 Corinthians 2:16, AMP). And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7, NIV).
We are each gifted by God with a personalized, double acorn thinking-cap, a mind-of-Christ thinking-cap. “Put on your thinking-cap,” our Teacher says.
…Sue…
P.S. Remember? Tonight we will enjoy the first gathering of our six-week NEW WINGS CLASS, a class perfect for women growing new wings with God after being separated, divorced, or widowed. We will meet in Northside Church’s parlor, to the left of the main sanctuary, and put on our Christ-centered thinking-caps as we journey forward with God. Join us on Wednesdays in Lent, 6:00 – 7:30 pm, Northside Church, 2799 Northside Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.
