From A Distance

Some things - it seems - are not made for up close and personal. Some things are better enjoyed from a distance - like icicles for instance. The are hard, wet, cold... But in the matters of the heart, this cannot be said. We may try to keep a safe distance - we may try to take in the beauty without "touching" - but something is always missing. We were created to experience the depths of humanity that comes from opening our hearts to another. In our attempts to protect ourselves, we isolate and minimize - we starve to death emotionally.

It doesn't get much more up close and personal than child birth. Imagine - again if you will - a young woman and her man, seeking refuge in a barn so she can give birth to her baby. C'mon God! Couldn't you have done better than that? This is messy even on a good day! Couldn't you have come up with a plan that was a little cleaner... sanitary... sterile...?

But then, that wasn't God's intent - to be clean, sanitary, sterile... distant. God came. Up close and personal - with all the messiness that could be imagined - He came. He did not put distance between himself and humanity - He closed the gap. God came in as up close and personal of a way as was... inhumanly possible. While we were distancing ourselves - He came. While we were trying not to be personal - He came. While we were struggling in our mixed up and messy emotional prisons - He came. Not in all His glory, but in all our pathetic humanity.

Icicles are cold, hard, wet, and slippery. They are beautiful from a certain distance. But might I be missing out on a rich experience if I insist on keeping my distance? I have found that if I only observe those amazing icicles from a distance, I miss out on the richness of feeling the slick, icy, cone as it slowly melts between my fingers, and drips onto the ground. Yes it's still cold and wet - messy... But it's also amazing!

Just something to think about.

Guard Your Heart...

Warmth. Security. Peace. Intimacy. Reflection. Comfort. Memories. Longing. Hope. Sharing... Choice.

It takes a lot of work in this crazy, mixed up world to keep our sanity, and the closer we get to Christmas, the crazier it seems to get. Last minute shopping - traffic when and where there usually isn't any - short tempers - long lines - full shopping carts - empty wallets - lonely hearts for loved ones not present...

The heart, it seems, is the most vulnerable. How is it that one can feel so alone in a world with almost 7 Billion people in it! But it happens. Our hearts are chipped away at bit by bit; sometimes without our knowledge, and sometimes in full awareness, but without the will to stop it. And the result? Lonely, broken and empty hearts - longing for intimacy, peace, hope...

There is hope in this seemingly hopeless world. The key in finding it is in the wise old Proverb: "Above everything else in life, guard the affections of your heart; the emotional attachments you make determine the direction of your life." (Proverbs 4:23)

There is only one place we can go where it is truly safe to open our hearts, and that can be found in a manger where lies The King who became a pauper - leaving wealth and power beyond imagination, to rescue and win back, my broken and lonely heart.

Christmas. A theif has stolen our hearts, but The King of the Universe came to win it back. Isaiah 9:6

Just something to think about.

Who Do You Look Like...

My husband and I had a little girl living with us for awhile who was from Mexico - lovely olive complexion, eye's as dark as the deepest well, jet black hair... She didn't look a thing like either one of us, yet a dear old lady patted this child on the head one day and said, "You look just like your Daddy!" The woman had no idea that this little girl was not our offspring!

I've known people whose dogs actually looked like them! How does THAT happen? And have you ever noticed how even some husbands and wives seem to take on a likeness of the other after years and years of living together... What is it about association that seems to cause us to take on the characteristics of another person? It really is amazing.

So, at the end of the day, who are you going to "look" like?

1John 3:1 and 2

Just something to think about.

Getting there... safely

We were given instructions that were to bring us up to the street from the subway just a few yards from our destination... unless we arrived after 12:30... am - a detail we didn't fully understand the importance of until later - much later - after the 12:30 am deadline later...

Instead of walking a few short yards in the middle of the night to the warmth and safety of our destination, we found ourselves in an unsavory neighborhood, several blocks from "safety," at one in the morning. A large group of men gathered on the corner we needed to round... we were dragging suit cases - camera bags... we looked like tourists. We WERE tourists, and no match for the "night life" of this neighborhood! I enjoy a little adventure in life, but I do want to know that I'm going to arrive safely at my destination.

I was reminded that early New York morning of how important it is to feel safe. As we came up out of the subway we got on the phone and called our friend who then talked us through the turns we needed to make - the landmarks to look for - and he told us to keep walking - he would meet us. Whew! It felt so good to just have him on the phone! And then when he said he'd meet us... well, the sense of peace and relief was amazing!

Psalms 91 offers just that kind of amazing peace and relief for life in a very scary world. If I live my life in the "secret place of the Most High," I can go anywhere He leads me, and feel safe. I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going, and I can trust that I will get there... safely.

Just something to think about.

By the way, as we approache the group of men, a van - sent out by Mayor Rudy Giuliani - pulled up, loaded them all in, and drove away... A little serendipity.

Now, back to Psalms 91...

Standing Out

Most of life can just end up a blur - melting one day into the next - one person looks like the next - the details of one activity can get mixed up with yet another activity... but sometime something happens that stands out - that makes me stand up and take notice.

The death of Charles did that for me today. I don't know where Charles came from. I don't know if he had family out there somewhere. I don't know how much education he had or if he was ever loved by someone. I don't know anything except that he slept against the slump block wall next to the kitchen door at church, and he told me once that I wasn't bothering him, "You help me and I appreciate that," he said. I know he mattered. What I don't know is, if he knew he mattered. That question just may change the way I interact with the other Charles' from now on....