Golden Dew

It was only for a few minutes.

Really.

I should have been ok

for a little garden work.

But I had pushed

my limits

beyond the boundaries.

And I collapsed on the chair, willing the tears away as I closed my eyes.

Into the haze there whispered a voice I recognized so well, asking me to open my eyes and look around me.  I saw the dew drops sparkling white all around me. 

Yes, I know. I see the beauty. What is it that you are asking of me Lord?

And then, I saw a strange sparkling, different than the rest. For a full minute, one of the drops of dew sparkled golden, gleaming and beaming straight at me. And a hope rose in my heart, in spite of the pain.  I remembered all the words. I remembered my Lord's promises. . . .

"More precious than gold" 

"Of greater worth than gold"

You might say it was just the angle of my head, or the glint through the haze.  I know the reasons. But I also know the ways of ONE so glorious that He tilts the earth,

and spins the clouds, and raises the dew,

for the eyes of His Beloved,

so that we would look up

and catch HIS gaze

calling us closer to His heart.

 "The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb."

Psalm 19:9-10 NIV 

Golden Dew

How Long, Oh Lord?
The pain wraps around me
And I am felled
Like a tree toppled, thudding
As it drops to the ground.

                                 

The questions swirl

Heavenward, in the morning

Dew, light swimming

Around my foggy eyes

As they narrow and shut.

“Open your eyes.”

The order comes at me

Like a voice from

The sky, and I scrunch

The sweat off my face

As I try to gaze out.

While the pain throbs

I see what had lain

Hidden before me:

Sparkles gathered on

Every blade of grass

And each leaf tip.

Colors shimmering

White and bright, twinkle

From the warm sun’s

Beckoning to waken

The early morning life.

“But one drop.”

Voice urges again

To see with new eyes

A Drop of Glory catches

The sun but won’t let go

And reflects a Golden ray.

                                 

My pain remains

Underneath a covering

So sweet and exploding with

Glory in my heart

As I have touched Heaven.

How Long, Oh Lord?

While the Glory remains

Your Golden Glory rests

Inside my heart, Heaven

Holds me here.

And I am loved.

--BG

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV 

Is there a pain gripping you today?

Have you fallen in shame as you pushed the boundaries?

There is a Golden Glory

shining for you to see

A grace given just for you

And a love poured out 

To lift your eyes

And catch a glimpse

Of Heaven's Love

Waiting for you. 

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

Community. . .

The Body of Christ. . .

Bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galations 6:2) . . .

Because He told us that HIS yoke is easy and HIS burden is light, why is it so confusing to us, this burden-bearing-process?   Why do those burdens that we pick up along the way with each other feel so heavy?

My Counselor gave me a hard word for my "Homework" this week:

BOUNDARIES

I have a hard time with that word. You see, years ago, Jesus tore down my own walls of perfection that I had set for myself.  Now I don't like the idea of  re-setting fences; re-erecting walls to fend off possible attacks;  re-forming masks to keep out prying eyes. . .  Neither did Jesus. After all, He called out the Pharisees with their whitewashed sepulchers! (Matthew 23:27)

And yet, BOUNDARIES are spoken of quite differently when the Holy Spirit places them:

"Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; 

you make my lot secure. 

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; 

surely I have a delightful inheritance." (Psalm 16:5-6)

Have I created my own confusion?  What if I have picked up yokes along the way that were never meant for me? What if I have set up protections for myself that never needed to be in place?  But what if I have MISSED the very protection that would have been pleasant for me, by walking on past the YOKE that Jesus would have desired me to bear? 

Here in this place of RA/Fibro weakness,  a new Season of Yoke-bearing has become inescapable. I cannot bear the old burdens any longer; I cannot live the old way of

NO BOUNDARIES
OPEN SEASON
FREE-FOR-ALL

that I was in the habit of doing. And I have felt adrift. Cut off from the Body. Because if NO-BOUNDARIES-LIVING is not possible, how can I ever learn again to bear ANY burdens?

In the middle of these questions, I came across this beautiful Hymn, sung so sweetly by Angela Figel:

I can remember my 9 year old self standing outside at recess and singing this song to my friends! (Yes, I KNOW that's not normal, but that's the amazing connection with this video:  I found out I was not the only child who loved this hymn!) 

Ah, but it has been this little girl inside of ME, who has needed to pay attention to the Words.

JESUS LEADS ME WHERE HIS LIVING WATER FLOWS, AND GIVES ME ONLY THE EASY YOKE INSIDE OF THE BOUNDARIES THAT HIS HOLY SPIRIT DRAWS. 

Walking forward in this Journey, if I listen to HIS promptings,

the boundary lines can indeed be pleasant.

Even in the most trying of places, HE still carries the heavy part of our load Himself.