Turning this mud into a beautiful container of His goodness.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding. Psalm 111:10

The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
    the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
the oracle of him who hears the words of God,
    who sees the vision of the Almighty,
    falling down with his eyes uncovered.  -Number 24:2-5

Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw His glory. Luke 9:32

Blindness is often used as a metaphor in the Bible. Physical blindness is compared to spiritual blindness. And the interesting thing is that this blindness is something of a universal condition. On one end, the Pharisees, who some might consider the bad guys, are blind to the work of the Spirit. And on the other hand, the disciples, who some might consider the good guys, are also blind to the truths that Jesus is trying to teach. In short, we all miss the boat. We all are blind. I think in the gospels Jesus heals so many blind people because this is THE human condition. And that’s why He came- to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set loose those who are oppressed. This is why He came. –Heather Voelkel

Open the eyes of my heart Lord

To see You high and lifted up

Shining in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

We cry

Holy holy holy

The Monday Night ladies were reminded that Jesus started off His ministry with “Repent.”

That is the very beginning, the first step of why He came.

And when I went to Google to find the best etymology of “repent,” I found a meditation from last year. And I had always heard that repent had a lot to do with re-seeing, and a lot to do with turning back and heading in the right direction, but all the dictionaries I found had it coming from the Latin paenitere, or repo, to crawl. And of course, translating is always a problem, because there are a jillion Hebrew and Greek words translated to mean the same thing, but they are all shades of the same Big Idea: open eyes.

And that is my prayer for today, open eyes.

And last year I prayed: And today, I prayed to remain quiet, simply present.  Mindful of His great mercy. That the rays of His love enter my heart, pierce the fog of mistrust and give me the deep knowledge of His first-loved-me so that I would walk in His love, deliberate step by deliberate step.

And a few weeks ago I ran into a bunch of Imago Dei teachers and kids lined up on the sidewalk, and after all the hugging, someone told me that the kid from last year who practically lived in the hallway desk all by himself is a like a different kid, that he is doing great. And man, did it make me happy, because last year while I was pouring a lot of His mercy all over him, like oil dripping down, I fell in love with that kid and his brown eyes looking at me. Yep. 

And Ann Voskamp asked last night, “If repentance isn’t a daily part of your life, how is grace a daily part of your life? Repentance is what keeps turning you around, around, sanding you down, re-forming you, remaking you–making you into real.”

Mindful of His great mercy. 

Around and around on his wheel.