Abraham's Seeing

When Adam and Eve sinned,
God walked in the Garden
And called for them
And they hid.

Fifteen chapters later,
The LORD finally appears again,
Having spoken to Noah,
Spoken to Abraham.

But now the LORD appears
To Abraham,
Both to give the guarantee
Of life of a child,
And the promise
Of destruction of a city.

The promise of a child
And destruction of evil.

The last time the LORD appeared,
This was also his promise:

The woman’s seed
Will crush
The serpent’s head.

Genesis

I confessed my ennui
To God.
So many reads through Genesis.
I told myself I hadn’t plumbed the depths.

I started to read about Hagar,
That household servant,
Pregnant by her master,
Fleeing mistreatment by her mistress.

The angel of the LORD found her.

The angel of the LORD found her.

The angel of the LORD hasn’t been mentioned before.

Hagar calls him Jehovah El Roi,
The God who sees.

First he found the knocked up Egyptian woman.

Later he found me.

Chastened, I note:
I was bored with Genesis.

Hear This Now

Please say no to any imposition on your precious time and resources. As, of course, I am here in Virginia now and for the foreseeable future and can come around on a plethora of later days!

If you are going to be hospitable,
You need to realize that

There might not be later days.

This world changes day by day,
And if you don’t say yes today,

The same opportunity will not come again.

Each visit is precious.
Do not let one go to waste.

Eggplant

Last week I read about listening prayer
In a group setting.

We had a group assembled,
So we tried it.

One person saw
An eggplant.

We all laughed about that,
A random purple fruit
That sends Phil into
Anaphylactic shock.

Not until this morning
Did I remember
That I should have asked
How my friend felt.

Because if the feeling was good,
That would be indicative of good.

And then I remembered
A tidbit from reading years ago.

Eggplant is not a simple crop.
It requires more effort than most.
It requires more nurture and care.

So an eggplant becomes
A symbol of first fruits,
Of something not quite usual,
But beautiful.

An eggplant could be
A symbol of the church in our home,

Or even the attempt to listen
And the risk in sharing.

Rest

I woke up
On the wrong side of the bed,
And before ten,
I had to apologize to
Three
Members of my family.
So tired. And
Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.

So how beautiful,
When listening to God,
I heard simply,
“Come unto me
And I will give you rest.”
And I felt

Rest.

So Proud

What God had last season was great. But it is over. I can’t grasp what He has for me in this season until I let go of what is past.

My friend has breast cancer.
She started chemo.
Her hair is coming out.

She bought a wig
And had a party at the salon.
They cut off the long, thick hair
Until it was short and stylish.

When her hair grows back,
My friend knows that even short will be okay.

They styled the wig
And she returned home, beautiful.

I cry for my friend because
She follows hard after God.
Though she sorrows sometimes,
Her sorrow soon rests
In trust.

Dinner Church, Week One

New things, I suppose,
Are often awkward.
But I was unprepared for the
Intensity of uncertainty
In what we were attempting,
We, with our five intrepid friends.

We did a manuscript study
Of Philemon,
Where Paul calls Timothy
Brother,
And also friend Philemon,
And also Philemon’s slave Onesimus.

Where Paul, in bonds,
Asks Philemon to receive his slave
As a brother beloved.

Later, I saw my son’s paper.
Paul sent greetings to Philemon’s family,
“And to the church that meets in thy house.”

Jadon had written: “This is us!”