Create a Miracle in Me

On By Charis PsalloIn Music5 Comments

dance

 

Create in me a clean, clean heart
Create in me a work of art
Create in me a miracle
Something real and something beautiful

Create a miracle in me

You’re not finished with me yet
You’re not finished with me yet
By Your power I can change, I can change
‘Cause You’re not finished with me yet

You make all things new

 

I stumbled upon this song yesterday. The lyrics sum up the theme of this blog so well. The music may not be my preferred style, but hey, I can dance to it and celebrate the goodness of God.

 

 

 

Thank you, Lord.

Anticipation

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Photography4 Comments

potential

When our characters are refined,

we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. 

And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need

because the Holy Spirit that was given to us

has flooded our hearts

with God’s love.

(Romans 5:4b,5 The Voice)

potential in pink

I couldn’t decide, so I posted both photos. Which do you prefer?

Dressing in Layers

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

IMG_7491snow forest gold creek

Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects.  –Henry Ward Beecher

We are in a season here in the southern British Columbia Rockies where one day it is spring and the next day (sigh) winter again. I’m packing for a road trip and I don’t know what to take – parka, jacket, hoodie?. The weather report includes predictions of a wide variety of experiences which will require flexibility.

It strikes me that when we live among people we care about who, like us, are in a process of change, great flexibility is required. When we’ve made adjustments and developed the habit of tip-toeing around someone’s idiosyncrasies, attempts on their part to change can throw off our own sense of equilibrium. Yes, we want to encourage change, but now we need to readjust. Sometimes we are not prepared. Sometimes we don’t have the appropriate clothing at hand.

Relationships between people who desire to follow God and live out their identity in Him are never static. One day it is spring, and the next it’s back to winter again. We need to be kind to each other, and be flexible. I’ve heard it’s wise to dress in layers.

Headwaters

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Photography, Water4 Comments

columbia lake south

This thought came to me as I drove home past Columbia Lake. As I crossed over a very ordinary little bridge spanning a small stream  it dawned on me that this is the mighty Columbia River that eventually supplies water for the hydro-electric power that lights the night and for the irrigation systems that produce food for much of the north western USA. I read somewhere that the Koine Greek word translated as “head” (as in Christ is head of the church) in most English versions of the Bible, carries the connotation of the source or the head as in headwaters.

The source of the headwaters of this river is a beautiful lake in the Rocky Mountain trench. The little Columbia River is backed up by something much greater than itself.

 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

(Ephesians 4:15)

You cannot give what you have never received. It is not authority or recognition of position or honour flowing back to a leader that makes them great. It is what flows out of a person that makes them great -and a great leader knows his or her Source.

Steal Away

On By Charis PsalloIn Fields, Mountains, Photography, Sky, Winter8 Comments

Cowboy Highway snow bw ch

Sometimes you need to get away from people, not because you don’t care, but because you do.

Jesus repeatedly left the crowds, though, stealing away into the wilderness to pray. (Luke 5:16)

In Practice

On By Charis PsalloIn Art, Photography6 Comments

piano keyboard charis_edited-1

I used to tell my singing students “I would rather you didn’t practise your songs at all than to drill them mindlessly. All you will do is reinforce your mistakes. There is no benefit to routine unless you are thinking about what you are doing. All that work is in vain if we have to spend your lesson time blasting a wrong note or rhythm out of the setting concrete that is habit.”

The benefit of routine is that it keeps you from having to think. As my husband reminds me, if I put my keys in exactly the same place every time I won’t have to think about where I left them. Routine saves time and brain space. Repetition and tradition reinforce important basic concepts and give us patterns for instant responses when we don’t have time to think. Practice and repetition are essential to learning, but when worship and prayer become mere repetitive routines, we are no longer engaged in a truly conscious way, mentally, physically, emotionally or even spiritually.

Jesus warned us not to be lulled into feeling super-spiritual by the number of words we repeat to try to impress God. “Vain repetition” the ancient King James version called it.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (Matthew 6:6-7)

I love worship music from the heart. Sometimes the tunes that carry my deepest love for the Saviour may be no more complex than nursery songs and when the heart is engaged can be sung over and over as a profound offering of praise.

And sometimes repeated simple choruses with iffy theology are like singing Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall -endlessly.

If God is worthy of our praise he is worthy of our best, thoughtful, skilled, creative, heart-felt praise. Today people with God-given talent like the composers Brahms or Vivaldi or artists Rembrandt or Durer or poet/lyricists Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts often have to go outside the church to find a place where they can praise with their whole beings and where they won’t be accused of “showing off.” Even accounting for the difference in communication styles and artistic vehicles many of us have lost sight of the concept of excellence as a higher form of worship.

No matter the tradition we come from we all have our forms of repetition. Praying differently, mindfully, listening carefully to Holy Spirit as we do so, can be less than placating sometimes.

Lord, be with him…

I never left him.

Comfort her…

She doesn’t need more comfort. She needs to give up the role of perpetual victim and start acting like the brave overcomer I already told her she is.

Let the meeting run smoothly…

There are some old infected wounds that need to be excised first.

Provide for their needs…

You’ve got a fifty in your wallet.

Oh Lord, you are worthy of far more than we tend to give you. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you that you are turning our hearts of stone into soft, living beating hearts of love. Thank you that you continue to invite us to fully engage with you with every good thing you have placed in us.

But When I Am Afraid…

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

forest fog DSC_0329 ch

But when I am afraid,

I will put my trust in you.

I praise God for what he has promised.

I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?

What can mere mortals do to me?

(Psalm 56:3,4  NLT)

One night after praying, I heard, “If I show you where I am going with this, it removes the element of faith.”

I read the great faith chapter in the book of Hebrews today, the one that starts with, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (11:1) It goes on to list many faithful people who trusted in God’s promise. It lists what they accomplished by faith. Toward the end of the chapter it says:

 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.

Yes! I thought, Look at what was accomplished by faith in people who were born before Jesus Christ died and rose again to conquer sin and death once and for all. Imagine what kind of things God plans for His church to do now that Christ indwells us and is our hope of glory! Jesus said “Greater works shall you do…

Then I read the next part:  Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

SAY, WHAT?

Then I remembered the verse in Revelation 12:11 I mentioned in an earlier post, that says “They over came him [the accuser, the evil one] by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives even unto death.”  In Philippians 3:10 (a theme verse for my life) Paul wrote that He longed to know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings. I would prefer to gloss over those parts, but I can’t. Knowing Christ on a deeper level involves suffering.

Persecution is real and sharing suffering is part of knowing Christ. As Graham Cooke says, “God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.”

A good father will allow his child to face increasingly difficult challenges that strengthen him. A good friend will allow you to share their suffering -and their joy- with them.

When my close friend was dying of cancer she sent many acquaintances away with a cheerful wave, but she gave me the privilege of staying with her through all the ugly parts of her suffering until the end. The last thing she said to me was, “My angel is singing to me.”   Jesus told his disciples they were more than servants; they were friends.

But do we need to live in fear?

I was terrified of childbirth. My mother had many complications and I heard the story of how horrible my birth was over and over. The result was a fear of not only labour and delivery but, eventually, of  even visiting anyone in hospital.  I was steeped in a culture of fear. But after my son was born, which I admit was no picnic, I learned that I was much stronger than I thought, that fear of physical pain did not need to set limits on my happiness. I could endure because I knew the joy that came afterward. (And as I tell young women who are as fearful as I, if the pain was all that bad would so many of us choose to bear more children after the first? Even my mother, who had every complication in the book, chose to have another baby after me.)

If we back up and see the big, BIG picture we can see that eventually, for the believer, all  tears end when we are face to face with our Lord -even for the ones sawn in two. There is more to come. Fear of pain, emotional or physical, need not set the limits of our joy. It was for the joy set before Him that Christ endured the cross and despised the shame heaped on Him. We can trust Him to give us the grace we need for the assignments He has for us. I do not have the grace for a hypothetical trial right now, because, like a train ticket to Novosibirsk, I don’t need it right now. Jesus’ promise to never leave or forsake me means that I can trust that when I do, He will provide it. It would be silly to fret over not having a ticket I don’t (and may never) need.

A lion’s roar is meant to be intimidating. Roaring lions are territorial. The enemy manipulates with fear. Peter warns:

 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Fear not. God is good.

In Season and Out of Season

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

IMG_7396 moss

I donned my water-proof boots and headed back up to the woods yesterday. The tall grasses of last summer slumped over in wadded tangles of faded brown. Between the puddles patches of green moss, kinnikinnik, Oregon grapes and half a dozen mosses and lichens proudly prove that they endured yet another winter, remaining faithfully green underneath a thick blanket of snow.

March and April mean the time spring blossoms in many parts of the world. March and April, in most of southern Canada, and especially here in the shadow of the Rockies, is when the snow may or may not start to melt and when the detritus of winter is no longer covered with pristine blankets of glowing white snow. A lot of garbage and dead plant life from last summer clutters the landscape and piles of accumulated snow morph into piles of dirty sludge. It’s not very pretty. If the temperature rises suddenly and the snow withdraws quickly droppings from pets and farm animals may thaw on the same day and the winds of early spring are not such a sweet thing, believe me. The deer left plenty of unpleasant evidence behind that they chose our front garden as their bed this winter.

Spring is a welcome season of stirring hope, but for people like loggers, who work outside, break-up means going home and waiting for the ground to dry until they can work again. In the tourism trade it’s called the shoulder season -too wet (or too dangerous due to avalanche hazard) to hike, too warm to ice fish or outdoor skate or to ski the lower hills, too cold to boat or swim. Out of season. It’s a good time to tend to tools that need repair.

Paul wrote to his young protegé, Timothy, that making disciples of Jesus is ongoing. True there are seasons when many new believers are born into the family of God and seasons when the Church experiences rapid growth in maturity, but there are also seasons when growth is hidden. Sometimes it looks like nothing is happening, but when the cold and dark season gives up its hold the warming light reveals that which has endured. The mosses and lichens have been busy breaking down dead trees and hard rocks to prepare the soil for another season of growth. Seeds that have lain dormant will soon take root and shoot up.

You know, we never know what is going on in the hearts of people who appear to be cold and hard. We are just called to love faithfully -in season and out of season.

IMG_7402 moss

I urge you, Timothy, as we live in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus (whose coming in power will judge the living and the dead), to preach the Word of God. Never lose your sense of urgency, in season or out of season. Prove, correct, and encourage, using the utmost patience in your teaching. (2 Timothy 4:1,2 Phillips)

IMG_7407 forest puddle