Knife Edge

“….your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and you will fail…”  (Galadriel to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring)

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But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  (Matthew 7.14  NET)

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25 NET)

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“[Jesus replied] ‘This is impossible for mere humans,but not for God; all things are possible for God.’”
(Mark 10:27 NET)

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How little I fully understand the ‘knife edge’ I walk on. Why should I, as Paul the self acclaimed ‘chief of sinners’ , have a sure hope? How little I fully understand the keeping power of God, making that path way as safe and sure as a highway…Thank God for His power over the impossible. 

There is no safer place on earth than this knife edge. No narrow way so sure.

Straight Street

   One way home. One road to glory.

   Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:  for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
     (Psa 25:4-5)

Fimbrethel

She lifts her knurled hands to the skies, takes a knobby step towards the horizon. Ever upwards –yet ever still. Still and silent upon the hill.

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“In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the
Spring.
Ah! the sight and the smell of the Spring in Nantasarion!
And I said that was good.
I wandered in the Summer in the elm-woods of Ossiriand.
Ah! the light and the music in the Summer by the Seven
Rivers of Ossir!
And I thought that was best.
To the beeches of Neldoreth I came in the Autumn.
Ah! The gold and the red and the sighing of leaves in the
Autumn in Taur-na-neldor!
It was more than my desire.
To the pine-trees upon the highland of Dorthonion I
climbed in the Winter:
Ah! the wind and the whiteness and the black branches
My voice went up and sang in the sky.
And now all those lands lie under the wave,
And I walk in Amboróna, in Tauremorna, in Aldalómë.
In my own land, in the country of Fangorn,
Where the roots are long,
And the years lie thicker than the leaves
In Tauremornalómë“
                          ~Treebeard the Ent in the Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

* a lone tree on a lone hill near one of my favorite ‘get aways’

Working Together

Cher-i-os! Com’on boys, let’s do this together. These ants know how to work together to move an object many many times their size. Sometimes they didn’t quite move in a perfectly straight line –but they all worked together towards the common goal.

We too should work together. Our differences and disagreements may make us curve a bit at times –but with God’s urging, we should finally arrive at the same goal.

*these tiny ants move a cheerio fifteen feet to their home…..

Razor - - - - -

Not every string of razor wire is meant to keep things imprisoned. In this case, it is meant to keep people out. But it is always used for protection. Here, razor wire is used at a phone tower to protect expensive equipment from being ransacked –and to protect mischievous people from hurting themselves on the towers (I admit to having great desire to climb the towers to get a birds eye view). Prisons use razor wire to protect the people without from people within who have a habit of hurting other people.

In life we mistake God’s razor wires for things they aren’t. We say “God is holding something good from me” when really he is trying to protect us from what lies inside that boundary. Or, we feel that God’s laws imprison us from enjoying the real world –when really God is protecting us from this world so that we can pass safely into the next world.

When razor wires are crossed –blood and suffering are the result. When razor wires are respected –the peace of God is present.

*razor wire at our local phone towers here in El Naranjo

This Side of Glory

We wait on this side. IT is on the other side. In the light of Glory –something so much greater than just eternity- everything on this side becomes dark…and colorless. On this side we enjoy beauty. But we can only enjoy beauty on this side as we look past it into the light and hope of Glory.

*a simple shot through a window. This admittedly is not a good picture. It was highly dramatized to bring out my point.

The Same Heaven–The Same Sun :: June 15

My tickets to fly home are bought. And the words of a beautiful Spanish song are ringing in my head…

Aunque es el mismo cielo,                                          Even though it is the same heaven,
Y el mismo sol -                                                               And the same sun….
Son las mismas calles, pero yo no soy -                 They’re the same streets, but I am not
No soy el mismo.                                                            I am not the same.
Y como turista puedo caminar,                              And like a tourist I can walk,
Descubriendo cosas nuevas al andar…                  Discovering new things while walking…
                      ~Marcela Gandara

As I think back over the last couple of years I see a lot of things that have remained the same. The sun is still shining down. The same stars, the same constellations. God is still the same. As I think of going back to the States, I look forwards to driving those same streets and visiting the same libraries. But I am not the same person as when I came here. I have a new outlook – a better vision. We can’t stay the same for two years. God wants us to continually become…

I could have grown more, I feel. That is my regret. My weaknesses are a hindrance that I seek to push aside so that I can be better at becoming…

 

*The sun rising over the river one Sunday morning…