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. 

See but through a glass darkly.

A candle is lit

May my whole being be bright

With Your glory now.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet You

As the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, Amen.

You might say, that sounds nice Heather- but what about the verse we just read together from John that the bad thing happens so that the glory of God can be displayed? Hmmmm???? What about that??? I am bringing this up because it was also my question, to myself.

After some reflection, I think it came down to the fact that I, at times, have a distorted definition of glory. I sometimes feel like the godly thing to pray, “Dear God, thanks for this awful thing that happened to me so that you, God, can bask in some sort of wonderful glory that makes you look good but is horrible for me and means that I am in extraordinary pain. Thanks. Amen.” This is not the definition of glory and I don’t think that Jesus wants us to adopt that type of definition.

True glory is something that fills up and blesses everyone. With true glory, everyone feels more loved and more light and more seen. There is a verse in the Old Testament that says the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like water fills the sea. There is no difference between water and the sea- the sea is water. The world will be filled with a heavenly good where everything is actually GOOD. Everything will be shot through with lightness and laughter and hope. When we run into the heavenly good we have a deep sense of joy.

And when Jesus says glory- He is talking about THIS type of glory- the heavenly good that is actually good for everyone. There is a type of heavenly good that can come out of pain if we let Jesus get involved because otherwise, it’s just plain old pain. And it should not be called anything otherwise. –Heather Voelkel

Restore us, O God of hosts: show the light of Your countenance, and we shall be saved. Psalm 80:7

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation. –Clare of Assisi

There was no holding back at the cross. The entirety of the Godhead committed itself to that crux of unconditional love.

And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” –Luke 7:40

Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.