Tonight I took a 4 mile walk with a canine pack. Murphy has 2 house guests staying with us for the week and our house can get a little "doggy" in the evenings. I figured a long evening walk would equal a nice quiet evening once we returned home. I usually have Greg with me while we take our evening walks but since he is traveling this week, I figured the dogs were not going to talk to me about their day so I decided to take along some worship music.
I wish every walk was like the walk I had tonight. Sometimes I can walk and walk and only focus on the wrong in life. I walk past birds, flowers, butterflies, sunsets and people and don't think for a second about God and about how each of these are Him reaching out to me, crying out to me to listen.
You can ask Greg, and I am sure he will agree, I don't listen well. I can be a very good listener if you need to talk, if you need a friend I am your person. But, if I need to listen to criticism, or how to better do something, or things I should do differently I tend to tune out. I feel myself doing this a lot with God at times. "yeah, yeah, I got it God.... mmmhmmm... sure I understand". He tries to gently guide me through family and friends, through nature and animals (which is my pathway) and most of the time I choose not to listen. I wait until I screw it all up and then come running back, falling on my knees asking Him to help me fix it again.
Tonight, I listened. I quieted my heart, (after getting my canine pack in line of course), I opened my heart. The air was crisp, the breeze was gentle, the stars were bright, the moon was cascading light down upon the walkway to light my way, the flowering trees were magnificently fragrant and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. I felt Gods love surrounding me. I felt refreshed by the continuing reminder of the renewal of life in nature. How God takes the broken, the dead, the dried up and breathes life into them to create new life; a new start.
In this broken world we have been given the invitation to tap into the purest form of love. I don't do a lot of things right and I find myself constantly asking God for forgiveness. I may not love the way I should all of the time but I feel I do have a gift of forgiveness and love which at times has been my Achilles tendon. I love people, I love animals,... I hate to kill bugs who invade my home. I can't sleep at night if I feel I have upset someone, I trust when maybe I shouldn't and I feel frustrated when I cannot give to the capacity I want to give. This all is coming from a person who does not tap into this source of love the way she should.
Tonight while walking I listened to one of my favorite songs... Your Love by Marc Imboden. It brought me to tears and if I thought my dogs wouldn't run all over me I would have gone to my knees. :)
Your love lifts up the blind man
Falls into my hands, I lift up to you.
Your love lifts up the weary
allows you to hear me cry out to you
Your love it opens the heavens
Your love it opens the flowers
Your love it opens my heart to you.
Your love lifts up the dying
Comforts the crying, that call out to you
Your love lifts up the righteous
Lays down beside us, as we come to you
Your love it opens the heavens
Your love it opens the flowers
Your love it opens my heart to you.
Your love it opens the tomb and
Your love it opens the graves and
Your love it opens our love to you
I can feel your love around me
I can feel you here
I can feel your love surround me
I can feel you here
Tonight I was overwhelmed by His love, overwhelmed by the beauty which surrounds us each day in nature and within ourselves if we allow it. I plan to do my part in tapping into this never ending pool of grace and love which God continues to offer us each day. He offers it regardless of the crappy day we may have had before, regardless of the negative attitude we struggle to shake, regardless of how angry we were at the person driving in front of us on the way home. It doesn't matter how ugly or dried up I am, he refreshes my spirit and brings me back to life. It shouldn't surprise me how such a short time with God can wash away an entire day or weeks worth of frustration and yuck. He fills me up and helps me see this world through His eyes. We are loved therefore we are called to love... not judge, not bicker, not lie to one another or manipulate to hurt one another.
We have a choice, shall we remain dried up piles of ugliness? Or do we want to be beautiful and renewed from the inside out...giving off a "fragrance" to those who we might pass during our day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Tonight I listened.... He spoke... and it was good. :)
I now am surrounded by dogs who look as though they were tranquilized and dropped all over my front room. Good night indeed!
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