Good morning…
I love unique days when I get to experience both the sunrise and the sunset. The sunset on the Saturday night of our Advent women’s retreat was absolutely spectacular, so I went to bed so excited to see the sun gloriously rise on Sunday morning.
As usual, I woke early without an alarm and walked up the hillside to get a front row seat for the fresh appearance of our dependable sun. I curled up in the hammock and expected a firework show of colors galore. What I received was completely different.
Everything. Absolutely everything was cloaked in clouds. Thick. Heavy. Grey.
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. No colors appeared, but others things dawned. I noticed the loud landing of individually freed leaves. I heard the scurrying of squirrels as they playfully woke up. I savored the birds cawing, tweeting, singing serene songs. Usually left undetected, I smelled the decaying pine scent fill my nostrils. The new day was waking up for me in unpredicted new ways.
Inspired by the book I had just met, The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed, I wrote my first haiku to celebrate the magical moment.
Freed leaves trickle down
Skittering critters wake to play
Dawn paints all thing new.
As I texted these tiny lines to myself, I looked up to see something else through the clouds.
I noticed everything rising up toward the cross. Absolutely everything rises up to the cross. Jesus was born to walk among us. One statement he made sums up my lasting hope.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32, ESV).
The truth of Jesus stands as a beacon, even when our lives are clouded with unbelief, grief, addictions, anxiety, poverty, worldly wealth, depression, unmet expectations. Thick. Heavy. Grey clouds sometimes seem to cover everything. Even when we do not see the wide array of colors we had hoped for, Jesus is drawing all people to himself. Will we trust the magnetic power of Jesus even when our eyes cannot see? As Jesus draws us all to himself, new parts of ourselves gradually wake up to hear, to sense, to join God’s serene symphony.
And God-Enthroned spoke to me and said, “Consider this! I am making everything to be new and fresh. Write down at once all that I have told you, because each word is trustworthy and dependable” (Revelation 21:5, TPT).
…Sue…
P.S. I have been told that all of our Christmas Eve services at Northside Church currently have a waiting list. If you are interested in worshiping with us, please reach out to me personally at the link below and I will connect you to the person who is managing the seating for all of our services.
