Comfort and Kingdoms

Of one kingdom we reach out for comfort and it enslaves us.....in the Kind Kingdom,"comfort" reaches out for us and frees us.

May freedom ring in this new year!

Love to all,

Rhonda

Every Day...

Early in the morning, I gathered a basket of autumn up for inside the house.  Why should all of the free, fall decor be crunching under my boots? 



I loved them in the window.  My own little oak tree display. 

And I figured that since I did get up this morning, and since I had yet another full day with which to fill up, I may as well be intentional about the good parts, so I made a mental list.  I called it, 

"Things That Should be Done Everyday, if You are Me:

             1.  I should do something beautiful every day.  (leaves hanging in window)   2.  I should take time for a few photos.(...because that's just fun)

                  3.  Everyday, I will eat something from the garden, even if it is just a snippet.  

(.....because that's just exciting and, yes, plants grow there in December)  4.  Every day, I should spend a moment on creative ideas, whether planning or doing because that feels like living. (baking bread, arranging a vase with flowers or greenery, sketching or writing, or whatever)  5. Everyday, there is time for a walk. (walks are the best) 6. And last, but most exciting part that makes any day marvelous and must never be missed or else a desperate dullness will ensue over your day---at least I'm sure that is what would happen to mine;  I will visit that "Dreamy place that is ours and God's together". No day can measure up to much without Him being all rolled up in it! 

Not sure what this is, but it is hot and tastes like horse rashish! 

 And every day, I will treasure love in my heart. 

Today, I found a little blue card in some old things.  Inside it said, "I love you, Rosebud. Love, Mom."  My heart melted onto the floor and the card was promptly placed in the window where I can see it now, every day.   I, so, treasure the love.

Thanks, Mom. I love you, too.

All the best things seem to me to be the simplest things.

Thanks, Poppa (God), I love (heart) You, too.

A Birthday Eve

Cooking rice on the stove....shaking in the soy and stirring the vegetables, too. I was just listening  to the music while I worked and was clicking away at the black keys here.  And I was waiting for the feelings to come, the ones that come singing a song served up fresh and full. It is "for King and Country" today......Sometimes one must look for the feelings and call for the calming to come.  Some must train in the trying and tutor the story to tell your tale of triumph.  

Dusty windows leave baskets and books, blowing bells and blueish 

birds in view from the kitchen.

 

 It is a Wednesday and a birthday eve of even numbered, lived out years for me. The boys will leave for church and I will clean the rice from the skillet and the chicken from the crock and feel all of this.

Barns and brothers, big and small on an eve of half of the whole hundred...it's 50 years eve and still, it is me.  

A goose and a gander, a goat outside of the gate, a garden and a gathering of my thoughts.  

A collie and a "calling", I am watchful of them both.  And I'm looking for the pretties, the pleasers, the pleasant in the eve of a day.  I'm searching for the hints of heaven, the tint of treasure, the bloom of something beautiful because I can do this, I can.  

I'm searching the sorrow for the Savior and searching sadness for the souvenir, surveying the sacrifice for a Shepherd; hiding and seeking.  These same ole autumn winds blow, like in Kentucky when I was born.  They come to play this birthday game for me and perch the prize up high so I will stretch for it........like up in the oak, like out on a limb.  I don't love games.....but I will pray for the prizes and I will, on purpose, play.  

 I see a wide open field of fruit out there in the distance ---ripe for the picking--thrusting stems wave wild in the favor of this faith on this birthday's eve ♥.

 

A Triangle of "Three".

Yeah, it's scandalous they say--  a love triangle and I am unashamed........Or, imagine Bermuda, that old polygonal legend of disappearing ships and planes......but even near the Bermuda I am not afraid of its devouring, three sided mystery.  And I am not afraid of the scandal.
 I am disappeared in a love triangle.  But, I am being tricky with you now.  I am just playing a game with my words. Of these corners of three I can barely even tell of how they  pull back beyond my imaginations and of their watery grave for worn out ways--it won't be told in latitudes and longitudes. 
No, I am not ashamed in the Triangle of "Three" and if my disappearance is complete, never mind rescuing me.  Let my worn out ole ways rest in peace deep within the water of the Triangle of "Three".  

 May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Anointed, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit remain with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:14 May this triangle of three always cover you.

                                        King of my Heart

Sunday

Oh Sunday, it is YOU again!  Hello!  Good morning! I've spent the week in the wake of Your goodness. I got up real early just to greet you and your awesome sort of something that makes you like no other day.    

It's true that the "church" is not a building and that the "believers" are sent out beyond its sanctuaries.  But when we gather together in the bosoms of our churches, we savor the "us" that God has made out of you and me.   Together we lift each other higher,  and for Monday to be the perennial love peddlers looking for their paydays in a Kingdom a'comin'.  It's so easy to say what I see in you, Sunday! 

Sunday, you are the shower, the coffee, the choosing the same old jeans and the something above them, a little better than " my on the farm" wear.  
Sunday,  and I choose the newest thrifted shoes that my friend will notice and say she loves.  
Sunday, and the farm chores are cut short because critters have to wait for me to return in the afternoon time, after all of the Sunday magic has been lived and relished again. 
 Sunday, and before I go, I read the living words, speak to the adoring Father, and face the loving God that gives me a Sunday again!  
Sunday, and I call my mom on the way there.  It is our weekly drive together.  We love each other with listening and talking and "knowing" one another well. She had a good week, she has encouraging words.  I hang up when I get to the big parking lot with not too many cars there just yet. There's not much time to dawdle,  I rarely leave enough.
 Sunday, and I make my way to the little room to the right of the stage where the other few are waiting.  I walk against the long wall on my way while the musicians are belting out the good songs about the "goodest" news of "ever".  
 Sunday, and I enter the little room at 9 a.m. where the loved ones are poured out to pray awhile together.  

Sunday, and the morning prayers end too soon, but this place is filling up  now with smiles, with exchanges of affection, affirmations, and love tones all around! There is more coffee, food and the followers, following their "Faithful One", are filing in. It's always the same in some ways! I love you, Sunday!  How could I not!? 

When the music begins to play again, a collective "us" are drawn into celebration as all revel in our most fortunate positions;  daughters and sons, beloved of God, sisters and brothers of belonging.   When voices swell to meet the joy in our hearts, all is well with the world.  
Later, when the night time comes and I am back home in my bed, the supper was cooked, and my chores all done, I sleep in the glow of Sunday---- until we meet again!  ;)

Daughters of the King

The daughters are making their plans, flipping through their closets for something nice to wear.  They wonder what the others will wear, and if theirs will be nice enough to let them relax and forget about themselves for a while.

The daughters are making their plans, packing their bags, planning the meals and chores for home when they are away....... wondering if this is worth the time and effort, wondering if they'll fit in and come home with anything new or profound for this time they've signed up for.

The daughters look in their mirrors and they think the thoughts that daughters sometimes do, at any age;  Who am I, really?  Where am I going?  Have I come far enough so far?  Is God pleased? What is still left inside of me that will see the sun before I go?  Am I all that I can be?  Am I enough?

The daughters say goodbye and start their journey.  Some are driving alone and some share the drive.  A retreat just for them and time to exhale and be. Expectation is on their side now and the drive upwards becomes beautiful.  There's no turning back now.  

The daughters find their rooms, lay down their bags, and start to see themselves in this mix of women and friends.

  Exhaling the cares of the lower lands they will settle in and soak in the divine now. 

The daughters find atop this mountain the "something new and profound" that they wondered about below the rise of Camp Mitchell and its lovely mountain vistas. The daughters find a place, arm in arm, between the love of their sisters. ♥

Eavesdropping

Eavesdropping..........I was listening intently to this curious language concerning me and you:

Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.....................(John 17:21)

Eavesdropping, I was. I was listening to the tender intent of intimate inclusion. I follow along softly and timidly:

 "May they also be in us", he asks........

Eavesdropping and hearing this sacred desire concerning us:

 ...may they be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

 I hear his intent to pull away the blindness from our eyes....prayers of deepest desire for this: ..."that the world may believe"...... Jesus  has such desires and they are all wrapped up in us, even to this very moment we are sharing here together. ♥ 

And we have to wonder some Monday-wondering-whys:  Like why does heaven want us so much?  Why does Jesus pray for us to be one with Him and His Father?  Why are we so cherished and desired? Why are we the objects of His love?  But also, why are we not amazed at all of this to the point of utter distraction?  Why is this not causing a complete train wreck of distraction in our every day living--- to realize that God wants to bring us and join us up with Him?  Aw........this is the best, most comforting wondering of my Labor Day. ♥ 

Gentle Jesus, I hear your prayers for me and all those now, before, and after me.....this loving concern that we could see with heart-eyes--- with faith-sightedness and come into You ( I make up words when I need to)......not earthen eyes of skepticism, refusing to believe You.
You speak to Your Father and He always hears......and I am hearing, too, because we were allowed to eavesdrop like this. ♥

Through the Chamber Door

In tranquility (the state of being free from disturbance; calm), in serenity (the state of being calm, peaceful, untroubled), in repose (a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility) I find You in the chamber where with rich hospitality in Your voice, You said, “Come in!” I found abundance of fresh, flowing, mountain water to drink my fill from.  I laid back on carpets of softest grasses and gazed into the sun soaked skies of blue and white, cut through with golden rays of warmth and repose.  Aw………this birth place of my soul—returning, returning, returning friends.  

Gorgeous canopies cover like mother.  Mountains jute up with protective force and strength like father.  Copious (abundant in supply or quantity) birds flutter in gentle serenity.  Gentle melody fills and falls as raindrops crisp the air in springtime.  I feel exactly as a baby drinking the warm milk, or a soft, safe child at her father’s feet and under her mother’s arm.  Repose, serenity, safety;  this is where I live and the notions come to me like the waters lap the shoreline, like with sureness, with abundantly more, with gentle tenderness, with purposes, with fun and frolic.  This is childhood at any age; being a child of God.