For the third day in a row, I woke up without an alarm. For the third day in a row, I woke up after the Sun. Settled down for a breakfast of coffee and cake. What a beautiful way to celebrate the morning!
Indecisive storm clouds hover around the edges of the bay. It looks like it may be raining in Port Orchard. The mountains are completely obscured, as if they weren't quite awake yet.
It's 11:00 am. Some days the mountains never wake up around here.
The water is eerily still. The same shade of gray as the clouds. You wouldn't know where one changed into the other, except for the peninsula marking the border. Hills, houses, trees, roads. And the marina. And ship yard.
Today has the air of ordinary to it. The type of day where you sleep in and eat cake.
Reading one of my favorite psalms, David paints a more action-packed scenario:
"By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;
Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
Being girded with might;
Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy." --Psalm 65:5-8
Sometimes Sinclair Inlet feels like the farthest sea. Kitsap county seems like the ends of the earth.
I forget the sleepy mountains are girded with might. I forget that the stilled seas are submitting. I forget that salvation is the only cure for the tumult of the peoples.
God, give me a fresh attitude of awe. Be my trust. Work Your wonders in every ordinary day. Praise Your name, Amen
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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Ephesians 5
Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
What a powerful post, Laura. There is so much we do not understand about stillness.
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