Trusting the Bridge Builder

Since my first reading of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, I began making my Graces List - God's gifts in everyday life, small and large.  In re-reading it for the 5th time (am I a slow learner, or simply needing to delve deeper into this amazing book?), I find something different that I'd skimmed before.

Thanks builds trust.... Who trusts the Bridge Builder?...How do you count on life when the hopes don't add up?  ... The hopes don't have to add up. The blessings do.  (emphasis added)

Count blessings and discover Who can be counted on. ... Can God be counted on? Count blessings and find out how many of His bridges already held.  Had I not trusted all these years because I had not counted?

That question is mine as well...  One only needs to glance backward in the mirror to a crossed bridge.  How many times have I crossed a bridge without giving a second thought to trusting its integrity? its strength? its foundation?  Have I ever hesitated to proceed, or simply lunged forward in blind confidence?

Making my own Gratitude Journal continues to be a good exercise in recognizing the Bridge Builder at work.  Knowing that I will enter simple words to remind me of His goodness keeps me alert to His ways, His work.

44.  October October October
86.  Oak leaves at a gravesite
159. Misty in labor
169. For Ruth: Psalm 69:29 I am sad and hurting...
174. My inheritance of faith
185. MP & me... pinky swear: save each other if one is missing & wandering aimlessly, IF we remember
195. 1907 red leather diary
250. Me: have you written letters to Santa?  2 grandsons: He lives in our house
279. A regular paycheck
287. Memory of the red brick with enameled iron fence - now abandoned and lonely
292. Even in the tornadic mess called a house, it will be Christmas in 7 days
305. Emma and her blingy headband
323. Special Christmas ball
339. Surviving cancer 17 years
375. City Harmonic - "Holy (Wedding Day)" in Nashville traffic snarl
376. US flag flying high from a tall building at dusk

There is something uniquely prayerful about making this list... about finding God, the Bridge Builder, everywhere I turn.

God reveals Himself in rearview mirrors.

My hand is open to receive God's magnificence as well as His lessons.  I trust Him for a night of rest, another sunrise, another conversation with loved ones, a new project to capture my attention, a grieving soul to companion.

He has blessed today.  Will He not bless again tomorrow?

Scarcely a day goes by that I do not wonder about the future.  I guess that's what happens as we age. I have traveled far on Life's journey, and the Bridge Builder has kept me from plummeting to certain death or disaster countless times. I have thanked Him not only for my own blessings but also for the blessings seen the lives of others.  His sure, steady strength has laid a foundation that can be trusted.  Without a worry, I go to bed each night and awaken the next morning.  Will He not bless again tomorrow?

"Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are a divine choice," wrote Henri Nouwen.

Again, I urge friends and acquaintances to read One Thousand Gifts.  However, if you choose not to, it is still possible to make your own Graces List.  Such a Gratitude Journal is a timely reminder of the Bridge Builder's care for each of His children.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. --Lamentations 3:23

Sights, sounds and events that we take for granted

The morning sun was just beginning its skyward rise as I drove to work that morning. The past few years I've commuted thirty minutes, and although the price of fuel can be a cause for concern at times, the benefits of those cherished moments more than outweigh the wordly concerns about the money in my wallet.  Those precious minutes are my God-Time.  I reflect, pray, turn up the volume on my Christian music, and the day is off to a beautiful beginning.  No matter what happens when I arrive at my destination, God has breathed life into me, and no circumstance or situation, people or event can rob me of the memory etched clearly in my mind of time communing with God.

The sunrise is often breathtaking.  I marvel at the Lord's creation frequently as I make that short trip.  But that particular day?  Indescribable.  The multitude of pinks, lavenders, and blues against the morning sky spoke of a Heaven that surely is far more beautiful than even this amazing sight that I beheld for a few brief moments!  I could not take my eyes from the changing scene.  Although I monitored the traffic, my thoughts were on the gift being offered to anyone who would take time to notice.

I met cars and trucks of every description.  Many drivers seemed to wear blinders, they were so focused on the route they drove.  Others talked on cell phones.  Still others appeared to be barely awake, not paying attention to the world outside their driver's cubicle. Was anyone other than me taking note of the spectacular scene to the east?

One of our discussion questions in Sunday school class today was this:
"What are the sights, sounds and events that you take for granted?  What does it take to remind you of their significance?" 

And it was natural that the subject of this gorgeous sunrise came up.  I mentioned it and it seems I was not the only one taking note that special morning.  At least three others in the group commented excitedly that they, also, had been deeply touched by the beautiful gift from God.

As class members thought over the probing query on the table, one spoke up in a quiet voice that he just plain forgets that God is there throughout the day.

Wow.  That hit me hard.  Even the gift of a sunrise can seem fleeting and quickly gone.  But you see, I work in a church office.  I am surrounded by godly people, godly tasks, and godly trappings.  I live a sheltered life, according to some - a charmed life, according to others.  But there it was, in black and white. Simple, yet profound.  Quietly delivered, but loudly heard.

I forget He's there.  Well, there are those amazing scenes like the sunrise and gorgeous sunsets over the cornfield that I notice throughout the year.  And there is the winter scene of snow and ice sculptures at every turn.  But do I really believe He's here?

Oh, I call on Him plenty throughout the day.  I implore Him to right wrongs and to intervene for the sick and grieving. I pray for the preschool child that screams for his mother across the hall.  I lift up the poor who call our number for rent money or utilities assistance. But do I remember that He sits at my desk?  Do I realize He's in the car as I make my way through town to run errands, to work, and back home again? 

I forget He's there.

When I'm seated in the church pew, I remember He's there.  When I'm gathered with Sunday school class friends, I know He's with us.

Lysa TerKeurst speaks in one of her CDs about offering herself to God for His divine purpose every morning:
"My morning prayer, before my feet even hit the floor, is... God, today I want to see you, today I want to hear you, today I want to know you.  Lord, interrupt my day for your good pleasure."

She is ahead of me in this Presence question.  I don't have to find Him in some particular place throughout the day. I don't have to have a sunrise to remind me. I don't have to seek Him at an address. I don't have to wonder if He's going to show up.

Today I will remember that He is already here.

From our Sunday school lesson:
"Thankfully God uses ordinary people to accomplish His good and loving will.  In the process He may interrupt your plans, do the impossible, and bring immense joy."

Today I will remember that He is already here.  And I will offer myself up to Him as a gift - no strings, no caveat, no footnote, no disclaimer.

Contemplating the Way of Sorrows

On this all-important day in the lives of Christians the world over, I attended a service at an ordinary little church in my ordinary little hometown.  It is not my little church, but another in our community.  There was no crowd of people, there was no pipe organ, nor any elaborate preparations made for this service.  Those attending were few, but we were all there for the same reason in that little ordinary church on this holiest of days in the life of Christ.

The Pastor led us on a palm branch-strewn journey around the perimeter of that sanctuary on the Way of Sorrows, also called The Way of the Cross or the Stations of the Cross.  The denominations I have been a part of do not commemorate Good Friday in this manner, so this was a new form of worship for me.

God met me there in that ordinary place.  And as we processed from one designated area to the next, tredding all the while on the palms that laid out a path for us, I experienced the grueling journey made by Christ Himself on that fateful day over two thousand years ago.  In the noontime quiet of the sanctuary, with sunlight streaming through glorious stained glass windows, I heard God whisper to my heart, "This is what I have done for you."
And during those moments of reflection at each station, I poured out my heartfelt prayers from my soul to God's ears.

Our little band of believers went silently as directed.  Our footsteps echoed on hardwood throughout that beautiful old place of worship, and I was moved to tears as we walked from one creaky pew to the next, reverently repeating the liturgy before us.

The Third Station...
Lord God, your Son chose to be weak before the powers of this world, and you worked your power through him.  In our time of weakness, help us to turn to you, that your power may work in us also, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord, I do not choose to be weak!  How did He humble Himself so, and do this for me?

The Sixth Station...
O God, your Son's passion shows us that loving others holds great risks that make us tremble and reluctant to act.  Strengthen us in our faith and our resolve to take those risks and to see Your Son in our needy brothers and sisters, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Father, empower me to WANT to step out of my comfort zone.  Remove the reluctance that threatens to choke Your purpose out of my life!

The Tenth Station...
All of you must clothe yourselves with humility, in your dealings with one another; for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  ...The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.

Lord God, when I consider the humiliations Your own Son endured, I am ashamed of myself for complaining.  My life is one of freedom, ease, joy, abundance, purpose, and privilege.  Help me to put others before myself, just as He put us before Himself.  Remove from me every shred of pride and phoniness!  These traits are worldly sins that I want to peel off forever.

The Thirteenth Station...
Jesus, Lord, your gift accepted,
In three days you resurrected;
You did first what we shall do.

Great God, help me to put my faith in you and entrust my loved ones to your infinite care!  Sometimes now I daydream about what Heaven will be like!  And I long to be there... with you and with all that have gone before.

Before the Altar...
Let us follow the way of the cross until our life's end.  Amen.

Lord, the gift of your salvation won through the way of the cross cannot be duplicated and must not be accepted lightly.  Make my path straight and keep my feet from slipping from the narrow way.

Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  --Philippians 2:5-11