Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Shadows from ten thousand feet Saturday, February 20, 2010 Isaiah 58:9-12, 14 If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, and if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, then your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places--firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again ... Be free to enjoy Me. I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. Yes! Christians call it the Fall. Because I come after the Fall I have a shadow-side. It is always with me, the self-centeredness I cannot escape. When my ancestors turned toward each other and toward "knowledge" they turned away from God. From then ... the shadow. I know what is right, but I cannot do it. Even when my actions look right and start right, I fall back into self. What for a moment I saw so clearly of God fades away again. Grounds for despair? I think so. The best I can do is what God tells me here ... shut up about other people's sins when mine are constantly before me. Not just the simple physical ones that involve sex and booze, I mean the ones deep inside me like enemy white corpuscles, coursing through every artery and vein. And give myself to those people who are just like me, share my crust of bread. Find ways to give today. Not tomorrow. Today. What is God's promise that trumps my despair? Jesus made it even more clear when he invited sinners to his table. He gave forgiveness away freely. Here God promises flight. "I'll make you ride and soar above it all." Do I see my shadow when I fly that high? It may not be gone, but God has my eyes turned toward him. And even when I look down, I see the harmony and symphony of his making. Let these flights be longer and longer, Lord. I believe; help me in my unbelief. Ring the Bells of Presence and forgive me again today. You are body, you are spirit, and you give yourself to me. Whole and undefiled. "; Add      Edit    Delete