Life Interrupted

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

"I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of a song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end

I found it again in the heart of a friend."

        --Henry W. Longfellow

The stillness path was opening

before me,

And I thought I understood

the meaning.

Open my heart

Listen for the changes

Walk the new path

And reap the new fruit.

After a busy time with our family all gathering in, I knew I would need to shelter and let the refreshing return. I rested in the beauty of spring, and I waited. . . . and waited some more. . . . But as the Fibro-Flare retreated, an old enemy returned.  The fire of the RA Dragon breathed his heat on my joints again.  When I woke one morning unable to do the simplest tasks, I knew what would be required: a call to the Doctor and the old regimine of prednisone, the most dreaded of my meds, would have to be started. If the inflammation of Rheumatoid Disease is not brought down in time, it spreads to other organs in the body, wreaking havoc on the entire immune system.

Before I made that call, I knew another call needed to be made. A cry to my friends for prayer to ask the Lord for Grace to surrender again. I sent out the texts and I heard back the words, words I had uttered myself so often for each one:

"I am praying for you." 

I held the pills in my palm, the stiffened palm that could not close, and I knew the Lord was near. He orders my days, and He knows the limit of the trial.  As I stared back down the road that I thought I had completed, He whispered words of sweetness in my soul.

"My daughter I see your pain,

and I walk with you still.

There is no turn that surprises Me,

no crooked place I won't make straight.

I am not shocked by the broken ways,

and I do not count your pain 

as failure

in the same way that you do.

I see only LOVE

in your eyes

reflected back from ME

when you gaze 

into My heart.

Just as I carried your burden

all the way to Calvary,

I now carry the trial

as I hold you close.

You are mine

Nothing between us

Look up to My heart

And into My Love."

And I knew the prayers of my friends were being answered as I remembered the Scriptures that were set before me from the online Bible Study offered by my dear friend,

Ifeoma Samuel.

The study for that day, the day of my own lameness returning, was 2 Samuel chapter 9, the story of David the King who brought in a forgotten son. This son was called to the King's table all for the sake of a covenant made between David and the son's father, Jonathan. You can read the story for yourself, and find the beautiful words that paint such a picture of our Lord the King, and the way He calls us to sit at His table, because of the covenant of Love that our Savior made on our behalf.  But the words at the end of the chapter brought the beauty of surrender to my heart once again:

"So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet."   2 Samuel 9:11,13

 

The lameness of Mephibosheth was not a hindrance to the covenant of love being fulfilled for him. The King called him in, and treated him like a son.  

Are you feeling the weight of a lameness 

somewhere in your soul?

We all carry a weight.

Do you have a friend you can call

for prayer when that lameness

seeks to overwhelm you?

I would love to join you in prayer today.

Even when the pain subsides,

we can humbly admit 

to each other

the weakness that lies inside our hearts.

There is a covenant of Love

to be shared

and to be spread abroad.

The King calls us to sit with Him,

to join Him at His table

like a son.  

 

I am linking this week with:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday
#LMMLinkup
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday