Another Year of Life

Whoohoo! I getta go home today! I'm jazzed. I'm ready to back to the place from whence I came. My place of rest and relaxation. I plan to have a chat with God down by the river, where I go for comfort, or for inspiration, or for rest.
Slender fingers of sunlight caress my cheek as I sit here on my rock. The river swirls and murmurs by, skirting the rock playfully. There is a slight eddying between the rock and the grassy shore. This motion of the waters creates a calm pool. Water skippers dance across the shining surface and avoid colliding with the mayflies touching down momentarily to deposit their eggs. Looking deeper, I can see that a small group of minnows darts from shadow to shadow through the topaz water. River rocks, worn smooth by the constant flow, have a slight covering of moss to which caddis flies cling with great tenacity. As I inhale the sweet air and recline on the rough red rock, I gaze at the sky and watch wisps of clouds slide silently from one horizon to the other and disappear behind the proud mountain. This is my place of solitude. This is my escape from the world and all its weighing responsibilities. I come here to gather my thoughts together like a fisherman with a net. They don’t surrender easily. It takes patience and discipline to corral them. Once my thoughts are concentrated into a manageable area of the mind, I let them out one by one like water through the openings of the net. Without all of them swimming around my head in a frenzied state of confusion I can concentrate on each one. Each time I visit my rock I face a different species of ponderings than the time before. Sometimes I will think about troubled or broken relationships and then brainstorm a method of repair. If the change of the times becomes unbearable, I vent my indignant feelings to the shifting clouds and then look at the positive outcomes of the change. Once in a great while, I shed tears of pent-up frustration that slide down my face and fall like jewels onto the sympathetic rock. The painful tightness in my chest drains from my body like melted snow running in rivulets from some high peak. Everyone needs a refuge of solitude, a figurative rock where they can sit and reflect on life.

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation come from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." -Psalm 62: 1-2

 I am celebrating my 21st year of life this weekend. What dynamic changes have transpired within my soul from that first day I drew breath! I rejoice that I am blessed to be in the diligent hands of the Potter...a part of the grand design...part of His kingdom.

New Life

My thoughts swirl like an eddy,

I am new, and I am ready,

You gave me life, now keep me steady,

I’m ready, ya, ready to follow you!

So many times I sit and ponder,

Just what you’ve done for me.

Things in life make me wonder,

You’ve opened my eyes, I see.

I used to try to live life solo,

Ignoring Your whole plan.

Now I want to try to grow,

More than when “we” first began.

Your love for me, I can’t quite grasp it,

It makes me want to dance.

Like a fire newly lit,

My heart does not beat by chance.

Thanks to the God of the universe for breath, for life, for friendship, for love, for my eardrums, and my eyelashes, my nerves and tendons, and the electrons that pulse and vibrate within my cells!

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