Good morning…
Led by the Spirit, an altar is being created in our foyer with all of the tiny treasures I find on my walks. Things fall off. It’s nature’s way. Things fall off. Colorful feathers, black acorns, buckeye nuts, chipped off hearts made of bark or stone. When I walked and talked with a friend recently, we found a few cool feathers and what she called a “Grateful Dead” leaf.
I loved the name she gave our leaf. “Grateful Dead.” When things no longer have breath, they die, they fall off, with gratitude they are released onto the sacred altar of God.
What is naturally falling off of us this pandemic, political, prejudice-exposing season? “Hurry!” Have-to’s. Pretense. Perfectionism. Expectations. Extracurriculars. Manmade agendas. Material accumulations. Armor. Ambitions not our own. When things no longer have breath in our lives, they die, they fall off, with gratitude they are released onto the sacred altar of God.
I lean into the name of the leaf we found. “Grateful Dead.” This autumn, we are both sad and grateful. All living things die, naturally fall to the ground. Into the open space created, God slips one breath, another, then slowly more, more, and more, as a new life phase slowly begins to take form.
And he gave them this illustration: “No one rips up a new garment to make patches for an old, worn-out one. If you tear up the new to make a patch for the old, it will not match the old garment. And who pours new wine into an old wineskin? If someone did, the old wineskin would burst and the new wine would be lost. New wine must always be poured into new wineskins (Luke 5:36-38, TPT).
The footnote below this passage reads: “Christ is our new garment (righteousness) and our new wine that is poured into a new wineskin (our new life and divine nature). Many today are trying to patch up their old garments (self-righteousness), hoping their old lives can hold the new wine of the Spirit.”
There are many of us trying to patch up previous patterns of living, hoping our old habits will return quickly and intact. Yet as we take off our old life and put on Christ, into our hearts God pours new wine. Will we allow old self-sufficiency to naturally fall off, opening space for the Spirit to create new rhythms with our divine nature?
…Sue…
