There is One ...

The other part of praying with the number one drew emphasis from Ephesians 4 beginning in verse 4. New King James reads:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

I made that into the prayer for the decade beads. Praying these ten beads I would repeat:

There is one body

one Spirit

one hope of your calling

one Lord

one faith

one baptism

one God and Father of all

Who is above all

and through all

and in all.

LK 1:34 Mary asked, "How can this be?" It remains a task for our Mighty Savior to accomplish! We can barely comprehand such unity and oneness. However, I believe we can do our part by not only praying for the unity of all believers, but by living as if we believe it to be true.

Years ago I was taught that the Trinity is inseparable, much like 3 in 1 oil.

May the Mighty Trinity indeed lubricate us, cleanse us and prevent us from rusting as we walk out our faith day by day.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

One

When I learned that praying with a rosary is simply tactile prayer and that the prayers can be any of your choosing I began praying with the following in mind.

Mark 12:28-30 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this:

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Repeatedly in my quiet time I could hear The Lord emphasizing to me the Oneness of the Trinity and the Oneness of believers. (It seems at time that unity among believers will take an act of the Trinity, yet God sees us as one.) So for a while everywhere I turned there was the emphasis on ONE. I even bought a wooden number 1 and hung it up in my car to remind me to pray.

Praying with beads or a rosary is just a way to keep your mind focused. If you have ever tried to pray for more than a minute you have probably discovered how quickly the mind and the ego rush in to take over. So holding the beads and moving them along from prayer to prayer is just a technique to hold your attention. I have never quite gotten the prayers memorized to where I do not need a card to prompt me and remind me of the next prayer. It is still a valuable exercise in turning my attention away from self and onto the Trinity - our three in one.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Many Sources, One River

Reading John Main this morning he wrote in Word Made Flesh: "In his gospel St. John teaches that the person of faith must be 'of the truth' and truth is conceived of as something growing and dynamic. Faith is not a static condition. The indwelling Spirit of Truth continually influences and forms us. The importance of our daily return to meditation is that it deepens our openness and responsiveness to the Spirit's vivifying and enlightening presence.

"In meditation we are constantly being refreshed by the power of the Spirit as it teaches us how to commit ourselves and dedicate ourselves to the truth. This is the truth that God is, that God is one and that our meaning is to be one with Him. John describes Jesus telling us that only the person who abides in the Word can fulfill this meaning and come to a genuine knowledge."

Then Streams in the Desert quoted Job 28:12, 20

“But where, oh where, will they find Wisdom? Where does Insight hide? Mortals don’t have a clue, haven’t the slightest idea where to look.

Earth’s depths say, ‘It’s not here’;

ocean deeps echo, ‘Never heard of it.’

It can’t be bought with the finest gold; no amount of silver can get it.

Even famous Ophir gold can’t buy it, not even diamonds and sapphires.

Neither gold nor emeralds are comparable; extravagant jewelry can’t touch it.

Pearl necklaces and ruby bracelets—why bother? None of this is even a down payment on Wisdom!

Pile gold and African diamonds as high as you will, they can’t hold a candle to Wisdom.

“So where does Wisdom come from? And where does Insight live? It can’t be found by looking, no matter how deep you dig, no matter how high you fly. If you search through the graveyard and question the dead, they say, ‘We’ve only heard rumors of it.’ "

Come, Lord, inform and transform us by Your Spirit indwelling us.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Recently in "Streams in the Desert"

Recently while reading in "Streams in the Desert" I came across this passage. It so reminded me of Dan Cooksey, my favorite Sailor.

 

 

"He went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8).

It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.
How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights.

So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day.
Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth

 

"Day by day our captain had taken his instruments" and even those of us who are land locked are guided by the faithful, skilled Captain of our souls. We may see no path, but He "opens the way." Help us be faithful to follow, O Lord.

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

End of Summer

We had the Grandgirls for two nights and days as the end of summer came around. One day we went to Goodwill to go dress shopping as the dress-ups in the basement were getting too small. The ladies had great fun going in the dressing room and trying on various party dresses and frocks. I let them each purchase two. Then we came home and they played dress-ups and practiced for a fashion show for when Pop got home.

They were wild and wooly in that fashion show! I have not lifted a still photo from the video yet.

The second day Pop was off work so after his errands we had an adventure to lunch at The BonBonerie where Uncle Jeff works.

 

The first surprise was finding Rowan and Jenny there finishing their lunch! Rowan had just had his hair cut and was looking very handsome!

 

When we told him Pop just had his hair cut, too, of course he had to come closer!

 

 

 

We enjoyed a sweet platter with fruit, scones and date nut bread!

 

Lunch was delicious! I should have photographed the food.

Ellie was our resident baker at the end. And good thing she wanted her picture made! I had left my camera in the Cafe.

 

Hope your summer is ending on such a sweet note as ours. School started Monday. Back to a different routine.

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Directional Prayer - West

And  "now as we come to the setting of the sun" as the Book of Common Prayer says....

When I face West I pray from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 using King James version because it sings beter!

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;  
we are perplexed, but not in despair;
We are persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed."

"Four Directions" Prayer by Someone Else

Many persons who pray have prayed certain prayers while facing certain directions, from the American Indians, to Muslims, to Jews facing Jerusalem,  to Christians since we expect Jesus to return from the East.

Here is an interesting link to a blog with a directional prayer.
Kirkepiscatoid: Advent "Four Directions" Prayer

Directional Prayer - South

Two song are competing for this position so I pray/sing both of them.

I just love this photo I found on line.

I first heard this song years ago and it was set to the melody of a Chickadee!
"Jesus is,
Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is,
Jesus is Lord.
And the light of His countenance shines upon us!"

The other song is based upon Isaiah 51. Here it is from The Message

 "Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking GOD. Ponder the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug.  Yes, ponder Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. Think of it! One solitary man when I called him, but once I blessed him, he multiplied.  Likewise I, GOD, will comfort Zion, comfort all her mounds of ruins. I'll transform her dead ground into Eden, her moonscape into the garden of GOD, A place filled with exuberance and laughter, thankful voices and melodic songs."

 When a stone is taken from a quarry it is sharp and ragged. I, too, am sharp and ragged in my behavior and mannerisms compared to my Lord Jesus.

 So I pray He will make me a smooth stone ....

And I sing/pray

"Rub me smooth,
Rub me smooth,
By Your living water
Rub me smooth.
I am a sharp stone
Quarried from the earth,
By Your Living Water rub me smooth."

Directional Prayer - North

Cool quilt, huh?

When I face north my prayer/song is

"Spirit of God within me

Rise up.

Spirit of God within me

Rise up.

Take ascendency over my body

Take ascendency over my mind."

North, where we sometimes get refreshing winds in summer.

Where the temperatures blow cold all winter long.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Bone Comics

Years ago the Cookseys introduced us to the comics called "Bone" after Wade introduced them. Here is one synopsis from "Wikia."

 

"The Two Rat Creatures, (who Fone Bone and Smiley refer to as The Two Stupid Rat Creatures, named Stinky and Smelly in Quest for the Spark by Barclay, and Abbey Bone), are the first Rat Creatures introduced in the series. They are incredibly dim-witted and have very little common sense. A running gag in the series is that while one wants to eat him raw, while the other insists to put him in a quiche. Fone Bone is credited with coining the "stupid, stupid rat creatures" name after he attempts to escape them by jumping on a small branch, thinking they wouldn't be stupid enough to jump on. Obviously, he was wrong."

In my mind I changed the phrase to "Stupid, Stupid Rat People." (I still use it when it seems folks are too dumb for words!) Dan corrected me when I visited with them this year.

Here is the classic comic from the description above.

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Directional Prayer - East

Many people have said various prayers while facing the four cardinal directions or compass points. I, too, have recently settled on four prayer poems/songs as part of my morning worship.

While facing East:

"Total surrender brings total power

Spirit of Christ in me

Totally yielded to Thee every hour

Until Your will I see

Death to my passions and every desire

Living wholly for Thee

Have Your own way

Spirit of Love

Totally flow through me."

Yes, I know I mixed Thee and Your, but it just sings this way through me.

What is your prayer song as you face north?

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Compare these newish songs!

At the 2012 - 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards, Mumford and Sons won Best Rock Song -  I Will Wait     Album of the Year - Babel    Best Rock Performance - I will Wait. There is a lot of debate over what did Mumford and Sons "mean" by their lyrics.

This week I began to hear the song "Build Your Kingdom Here" by the Rend Collective Experiment on our local Christian radio station. No doubt what theses lyrics mean!  I was reminded instantly of "I Will Wait"!

 Here are the You Tube videos for both, and the lyrics. Interesting. 

Well I came home
Like a stone

And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of dust
Which we have known
Will blow away with this new sun

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step
And relent
Well you forgave and I won't forget
Know what we've seen
And him with less
Now in some ways
Shake the excess

And I will wait, I will wait for you
etc.

Now I'll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh
And fix my eyes
A tethered mind freed from the lies

And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
Bow my head
Keep my heart slow

And I will wait, I will wait for you
etc.

Songwriters
LOVETT, BENJAMIN WALTER DAVID / MUMFORD, MARCUS OLIVER JOHNSTONE / DWANE, EDWARD JAMES MILTON / MARSHALL, WINSTON AUBREY ALADAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbdJXKqVgtg&feature=share&list=ALHTd1VmZQRNqCmOLiZT4q_13Rno_Yyymd

Come set Your rule and reign
In our hearts again
Increase in us we pray
Unveil why we're made
Come set our hearts ablaze with hope
Like wildfire in our very souls
Holy Spirit come invade us now
We are Your Church
We need Your power
In us

We seek Your kingdom first
We hunger and we thirst
Refuse to waste our lives
For You're our joy and prize
To see the captive hearts released
The hurt; the sick; the poor at peace
We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause
We are Your church
We pray revive
This earth
Build Your kingdom here
Let the darkness fear
Show Your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set Your church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build Your kingdom here
We pray

Unleash Your kingdom's power
Reaching the near and far
No force of hell can stop
Your beauty changing hearts
You made us for much more than this
Awake the kingdom seed in us
Fill us with the strength and love of Christ
We are Your church
We are the hope
On earth

Bless You, Holy Spirit

If you have been reading along you know I have written many times lately about living water. During my session of Healing Touch this week, Hawley began his prayers with a reference to Living Water. I wanted to ask him right then if he has been reading my blog. Well, it turns out he has not, but that is how the Holy Spirit led him to pray. As he prayed I began asking The Lord to continue to open the river of Living Water within me.
He promised not a drip, 

or a splash, 

but a river of living water.

The prayer time was intense and showed me an area of myself I was unable to see alone. And it was all done with the Holy Spirit as Advocate and Guide. I have been soaking myself in prayer, trying to be gentle with the error of my ways, and go forward with The Lord wholeheartedly. He assures me that I am forgiven and we are moving on from this point. 

The timing for this revelation was so perfect. I was stuck and did not see how to go forward. Hawley had no way of knowing what I was going through, except the few things I told him. The Lord is good all the time and the Holy Spirit blessed me with insight and healing to go forward. I just pray I can hold onto His hand this time and not go off in my own strength. Left to myself, I will always mess it up.

Ponder This

Rumi wrote: "What have I ever lost by dying?"

So I ask myself why is it so hard to die to the things I am wanting, wanting, wanting? Perhaps if I die to those things I will find true life and fulfillment and that more abundantly?

Remember how the Giving Tree gave everything she had?

 

Might we also Yield all of ourselves to the Author and Giver of Life?

Rumi also wrote,  "When you do things from your soul, the river itself moves through you. Freshness and a deep joy are sign of the current."

Imagine Watermark's idea of "living water swallow me."

Living Water swallow me
Deepest River wash me clean
And Jesus, Savior more of Thee
Jesus, more of Thee

Come and ruin me with Your love
So no other is enough
And come and leave Your mark on me
Jesus, more of Thee
Jesus, more of Thee

Deep is the stain inside of me
Deeper the River that washes me clean
I've been the one who cries in the night
You've been the Friend of my life

Living Water swallow me
Deepest River wash me clean
Jesus, Savior more of Thee
Jesus, more of Thee

Help me, Lord, to let go of the things I try to grasp and simply cling to You. I yield to You.

Waters Forsaken, Water Given

PS 36:9 NAS "For with Thee is the fountain of life;
in Thy light we see light."

JER 2:13 NAS "My people have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns,
That can hold no water."

Oh Lord, deliver us from that practice.

JER 17:13 NAS O Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who forsake Thee will be put to shame.
Those who turn away on earth will be written down,
Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.

Help us lead others to Your pure fountain.

JN 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again;
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall become in him a wel of water springing up to eternal life."

Come Lord, help us to drink deeply of the water You give to us.
Even one drop of Your living water can restore us.

Tiny Garden

Last spring I read in some magazine about buying moss and keeping it in the house. I just cut some from the yard instead!

 

Oh my! What fun I had in the lid from bulk Instant Breakfast that fit perfectly in the kitchen windowsill!

 

The tiny shell is an empty one from a land snail.

 

 

As long as I gave it a splash of water every day things were growing. Yes, that is tiny, tiny clover leaf. And then we went away for a few days.

 

The moss was struggling and the clover died.

 

Then the air conditioner came on and the humidity was sucked out of the air ... made for grateful humans, but miserable moss. So maybe I will try this tiny garden again in the autumn when the air conditioner is off. It was fun while it lasted!

 

Kept the plastic lid to try again!

 

 

 

 

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Summer Symphony

Here is a black screen video because I wanted the audio. Listen to our backyard! (You might have to turn up your speaker.)

Crickets, tree frogs, and who know what else?! The chorus of summer is always sadly missed as the nights get colder and the autumn gets colder. The crickets are usually the last to go. Frog Forum says they do fine, but slow down and don't sing much below the 40s.

About.com says:

    Crickets go quiet when we move because crickets don't have ears like we do. Instead, they have a pair of tympanal organs on their legs, which vibrate in response to vibrating air molecules (sound) in the surrounding air. A special receptor called the chordatal organ translates the vibration from the tympanal organ into a nerve impulse, which reaches the cricket's brain.

    The cricket, ever on the alert for predators, responds to this message by doing what it can to hide – it goes silent. Crickets are extremely sensitive to vibration, so I'm not surprised that it reacts to your movements, however softly you try to get out of bed and sneak up on it.
    Only male crickets chirp, by the way. The males make that chirping sound by rubbing the edges of their forewings together. They chirp to call for female mates. Since most predators are active during daylight hours, crickets chirp at night.

One of my favorite creations is this song inspired by a cricket. Okay, this recording is louder than the one above.

Popular Science Metabolic Rates

 

I opened the compost container we keep on the kitchen counter and a CLOUD of fruit flies came out. Yuck! I hate those little buggers. Then I read this article in Popular Science.

 

 

 

 

"At the gym, humans burn roughly two watts of power per kilogram of body weight - only lightly more than an elephant just standing still. But the fastest metabolisms in nature put even our best athletes to shame.

 

 

Yeast burns 269 watts per kilogram {Yeah for Sour Dough Starter!}

Fruit fly burns 34 W/kg {Die and burn out nasty little pests!}

Anna's hummingbird 24 W/kg

Paramecium 2.8 W/kg {One of my favorite microscopic creatures}

 

Human jogging at 6 mph 2.2 W/kg (You will never see me doing that.)

Asian Elephant 0.64 W/kg

Reticulated python 0.085 W/kg (Creeps me out to even type that!)

 

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Umptillion

We were watching Morgan Freeman on "Through the Wormhole" and I heard him make a reference to quintillion. Now mind you, I have no head for math, but the word sounded like something a grade schooler would make up! Here is an on-line definition

"A large number after quadrillion (15 zeros) is called a quintillion. It has 18 zeros. After that comes a sextillion (21 zeros), a septillion (24 zeros), octillion (27 zeros), and nonillion (30 zeros). A centillion is 303 zeros!"

Oh, by the way! We each bought a lottery ticket on Saturday and we won quintillion zeros. Nothing else, just zeros.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

That Refreshing Water

When we were in the Smokey Mountains I shot this video of one of our favorite areas. My favorite photographer is featured, too.
As you watch, ponder how is it going with your promised stream within?

From Sarah Young in  Jesus Calling:

"Bring Me the sacrifice of your time; a most precious commodity. In this action-addicted world, few of My children take time to sit quietly in My Presence. But for those who do, blessings flow like streams of living water. I, the One from whom all blessings flow, am also blessed by our time together. This is a deep mystery; do not try to fathom it. Instead, glorify Me by delighting in Me. Enjoy Me now and forever!"

PS 21:6, JN 7:38, PS 103:11

The Sound of Many Waters

In Revelation John describes the Risen Reigning Christ as "someone like a Son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest. The hair on His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

When I finally got to Niagara Falls with a video camera I recorded our time behind the falls. It makes for an unusual sight, seeing 600,000 gallons of water go past per second, but the sound is tremendous!

NIV Revelation 1:15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and

His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

KJV And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and

His voice as the sound of many waters.

Prayerfully listen and try to imagine the voice of Our Lord.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Dry and Thirsty Land

When I visited Corrales I had the treat of a light rain. It is so dry and dusty there, only averaging 9-10 inches of rainfall per year and they are currently in a drought. In Cincinnati our average rainfall is about 42 inches!

These verses came to mind as I watched the atypical shower.

Psalm 63:1 You, God, are my God,earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, my God.

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Twila Paris

I hope this plays! One of my all time favorite surrender to Christ songs. I heard it first when I bought a tape while we were on vacation. I soared to the heavens with the first playing, shocked that she captured what Jesus and I had been talking about for several weeks. On the second playing (mind you, rewind, find the beginning, listen again) I was just stunned in joy!

The person who set up this video with the Great Blue Heron to boot! Well, I am loving it!
PS I also just bought the song again through Amazon.

Who are these people?

Young, wild, impulsive, and even silly?

 

 

Oh yeah, that's us Before Kids, (though I was pregnant in this photo!)

 

 

 

 

 

Radical acceptance requires Total Surrender to the Holy Spirit.