Feeling old, and tired, and just wanting to sleep for a bit, I sit on a bench here at work. The day is hot, and the hotness increases the tired and worn feeling I carry today.
As I sit reading from a devotional, a cool and uplifting breeze begins to blow. The little Japenese Maple above my head begins to sing its wind song softly to me, the tree across from me, species unknown, waves its branches and leaves in greeting, almost as if it is fanning me.
I feel the cool breeze upon my skin, my eyes take in the deep and vivid green of the grass, the deep and vivid greens of the trees. I look up to the blue sky, viewed through the leaves of the little Maple.
My body is still tired, after all three hours of sleep just isn't enough, but my soul zings with energy. Such a beautiful world, so full of grace, this cool breeze sent to energize me, to tell me I am beloved.
His grace finds me, it covers me, it overwhelms me and I wonder how many moments like this one I have failed to even notice.
I give thanks for the breeze,
I give thanks for the song of the trees,
I give thanks for the deep green,
I give thanks for the freshness I smell on the air,
I give thanks for the grace,
grace upon grace.
marvelous grace......
Yet it's a harsh cruel world Lord..
a man died today, I watched his mother plead for his life last week.
I prayed for him, prayed for strength and grace and peace, prayed for his freedom....
I wonder today if he was strong at the end, if he felt peace, if his soul is now free with You.
It's a hard world, a mean world, where has compassion fled to?
How can it be that a young man, who received the benefits of western society, who was already attracting fame and fortune...
How could he leave all that to go to a land of horrors and cut the heads from innocent prisoners?
Lord if the blood of Abel cried out to you from the ground.....what piercing screams assault Your ears today? We pour blood upon the ground like it is water.
Creation groans, Your people groan....
even so, come quickly Lord Jesus
And I sit here on a bench, under the Japenese Maple, listening to it's whisper song in the breeze, my body is tired, my heart is heavy, but my spirit soars.
The breeze stills and all is quiet, the leaves prefectly still, and I hear the still small voice in my soul say "BE STILL and KNOW that I AM God". And I acknowledge this truth, my eyes lifted to the bright blue sky, and the breeze returns, and the trees sing it with me....
"It’s there in the newborn cry
There in the light of every sunrise
There in the shadows of this life
Your great grace
It’s there on the mountain top
There in the everyday and the mundane
There in the sorrow and the dancing
Your great grace
Oh such grace
From the creation to the cross
There from the cross into eternity
Your grace finds me, yes your grace finds me
It’s there on a wedding day
There in the weeping by the graveside
There in the very breath we breathe
Your great grace
The same for the rich and poor
The same for the saint and for the sinner
Enough for this whole wide world
Your great grace
Oh such grace
There in the darkest night of the soul
There in the sweetest songs of victory
Your grace finds me
Yes your grace finds me
Your great grace
Oh such grace
Your great grace
Oh such grace
So I’m breathing in Your grace
And breathing out Your praise
I’m breathing in Your grace
Forever I’ll be
Your grace finds me
Yes Your grace finds me
I breathe it in..........
"Praise the name of God forever and ever,
for he has all wisdom and power.
He controls the course of world events;
he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the scholars.
He reveals deep and mysterious things
and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
though he is surrounded by light.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
and revealed to us what the king demanded.” Daniel 2:20-23