They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary
way; they found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in
them.
Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them forth by the right way, that
they might go to a city of habitation.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His
wonderful works to the children of men!
For He satisfieth the longing soul, and
filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:4-9
Hans
and I put in eleven long hours yesterday.
And
it was all the detail stuff, hooking up the brand-new gas stove. Plugging in
the coolest refrigerator I have ever seen. Touching up the paint job for the
fourth time. Hitting some hidden spots in the built-in bookcases. Tightening
the bathroom cupboard doors. And dousing the endless forests of wood detailing
and doors with Murphy’s Oil Wood Soap, scraping at dozens and dozens of paint
drops with our fingernails because that is really the only thing that works: 98
years of paint drops.
I
know that my favorite thing about 39 is the fig tree sheltering the
north-facing front porch. And every single day it bursts out bigger and greener
and fuller of fruit. And oh yeah, the two huge flowering pomegranate trees and
the flowering vines climbing everywhere.
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. Deuteronomy 8:7
And I walked home last night from the song and dance and poetry and shadow theatre celebration of the Barrio Stories. And oh yeah, little girls in braids were rolling out tortillas to be cooked on a lid-from-a-fifty-gallon drum colmal, and even though they swelled up mightily, I gotta say that -four-year-old Anita’s tortillas were rounder and bubbled up even bigger. And I had to resist the temptation to take away the wooden pin and show them how it’s done. I have rolled a lot of tortillas in my day.
And the streets were very quiet and very dark, and I
could see the bright stars and the quarter moon up above. Which reminded me of
other peoples and other promises that were made as they gazed upward. And today
I read in Exodus how Moses set up the tabernacle that declared God’s presence
in their midst… and he reared up the
tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in
the bars thereof…which sounds an awful lot like Hans putting together my
brand-new gold brushed steel frame bed, except four of the screws broke on
him.
And when Moses finished his work, the
cloud of the presence of the LORD descended and filled that place.
Dear LORD God, I know not the future. But I trust that
You are faithful, and You satisfy the longing soul and fill the hungry soul
with goodness.
I praise You for Your wonderful works beyond my
understanding. I welcome You into my home. Fill this place with Your presence.
I will fix my eyes on the cloud of Your glory and trust You for the right way.
Selah.
