Resurrection Clothes

The Visit Beached in his lean-back chair   He sits reclin ed and staring into what   I cannot reach .   An introvert at soul , h e comes alive    W hen younger spirits enter , sit   A ttendant after banter in the circle   Discovering their own lives inside   His gift of weaving wings from spiderwebs     Memories of dialogs gone by   Characters like sibling stars   Intermingling until   A laugh erupts and bubbles from the belly up   U ntil it catches fire a round the circle   Fills and lifts o ff high    Into eternal elements.         Inspired by Mary Lou Kowalski's little book of poems and commentary entitled Old Monk, this is the first (and only, so far) in my hoped-for collection: Old Married.    

Have you ever had a time of severe trial of your faith that eventually passed, and you wondered afterward why it was so hard to trust God during that test? I have, and through one of them, in particular, I learned a lesson that I’ve remembered ever since—a lesson about hope and trust in God. A number of years ago, everyone in my immediate family was experiencing serious personal problems all at the same time, and I felt responsible for things beyond my control (which was almost everything). Eventually, as these situations worsened and I was constantly worrying—really obsessing over them—I fell into a state of anxiety and depression. I didn’t seek medical treatment or counseling because I felt so hopeless that I couldn’t imagine anything making it better. And besides, the problems everywhere I turned seemed so real and unfixable that my wounded mind told me my feelings were true. I tried to turn it all over to God, but then each time I’d immediately start worrying again. Fin...

Transfigured, Transformed Jesus, just as You on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, whitening, brightening in the sight of those with eyes to see, were changed from inside out, that what was in your soul shone forth as light, called forth a burst of joyful pride from the One-Beyond-All-Form: “My Son, my focus of delight!” So are we called in this our ordinary life to shine, be changed, be light. As Elijah, so Elisha. As our Lord, so we, watching You with laser eyes, trained to see You everywhere, will be transfigured, be transformed, shine bright. And shining, move as You did toward the Cross, that light may burst across the universe as our particle ignites. 12/14/19 Inspired by the story of Jesus’s Transfiguration in Matthew 17:2 (and commentary) and the invitation to us in Romans 12:1-2 in The Message Devotional Bible .