“Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18

Spring this year of 2025 has been late and very slow in coming.  Perhaps that’s why the process has felt so long and arduous.  Perhaps that’s also why the present breaking forth of glorious color and fragrance feels so profound. 

Almost overnight my city has witnessed tall woodland trees sprouting tiny green leaves; smaller decorative fruit trees lining property and streets, breaking forth with gorgeous blossoms; and carpets of bright yellow crocuses and daffs popping up everywhere.  This past weekend while driving, I actually reacted with audible gasps a couple times as I rounded a bend and beheld vistas of God’s creation beauty.

In a small way this sudden appearing of indescribable beauty has personified Resurrection Day for me, and what it must have been like for Jesus’ disciples.  After experiencing the horrors of His suffering and death followed by what might have felt like the longest of all sabbaths, I find myself wondering how the spiritual landscape changed for each one of those individuals?  What impact did remembering His words have as they tried to connect the dots with this new reality.  He was risen!!!!     He was alive!!!!!!  HE.IS.ALIVE!!!         

I’ve begun sitting in my morning devotions with each of the glorious “appearings” we’ve been given  in Scripture.  I’m sitting with the women startled by the angelic presence in the tomb and then running to tell the disciples; with Mary Magdalene grieving in the garden and then approaching the Gardener; the couple on the road to Emmaus as they walked and talked with the Stranger and then sat down to eat with Jesus Himself.  Speaking of eating, we know Jesus suddenly appeared to the ten on that first day, and then to the eleven and others with them a week later.  Oh and yes, we know He went before them to Galilee, cooking fish for them on the beach and then commissioning Peter for the work ahead. 

He was with them for forty days interacting; breaking bread; allowing…yes, even encouraging them to touch Him; and at one point, He even breathed on them. It appears He came and went suddenly.  Were the disciples hoping “things” would go back to the way they had been during those three years they walked together?  Or…perhaps had they begun anticipating that this would be a new normal? 

What are you experiencing now with this type of prayer?  What questions are in your heart?

Perhaps you could take some time with the Holy Spirit this Easter season to ponder these thoughts.  Just as on the Emmaus road, may He:

• Open the Scriptures to you concerning Jesus in a new way (Luke 24:27)
• Open your eyes daily to be more aware of His near Presence (Luke 24:31)
• Open your mind to appreciate and experience the Scriptures in a deeper way (Luke 24:45)

Jesus is risen!   He is alive!  The vista is beautiful. 

REMEMBER … THAT IT MAY BE CARRIED FORWARD!

Hello Dear Readers!

January is almost over!  Sitting here this Sunday evening, the urgency of time so quickly passing lays heavy on me.  It has been a month since the Lord and I spent New Years weekend looking back on 2023 and remembering the journey, the treasures, the sorrows and the highlights in His Word and in life. 

It was an exceptionally rich and pivotal year filled with canine adventure, travel, the announcements of more great-grandbabies on the way, painful losses and wonderful joys.  It was a year filled with learning and stretching and growing…yes even at this time in my life!  But the burden that must be shared is the major paradigm shift I learned and then experienced in His Word.   

I’m sure everyone reading this understands that we “Westerners” are often puzzled by or fail to grasp many nuances in Scripture – a “Book” – written by the Holy Spirit using Middle Eastern writers and embedded in a Middle Eastern culture.   That being said…we…reading with Western minds miss many Middle Eastern norms, idioms and nuances.  One of the major consequences is we read the Word through the lens of seeking what the Lord is saying to us, about us.  Our Western way of thinking is pretty self-centered unfortunately.  *However, the Scriptures are meant to be read through the Middle Eastern lens of what they are saying about God!   

So this New Years Eve as I remembered 2023, my focus dramatically shifted to:

·        Lord, what were the important things in 2023 You showed me about YOU? 

·        And…what trajectory / adjustments must I make that will posture me in 2024 to receive more revelations from You, about YOU? 

·        Then, what are Your purposes for them in 2024?  How can I bring them forward into this new year?  

Scripture itself bears witness to God’s perspective on remembering in order to bring it forward:

“…remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.”  Exodus 13:3

“Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy…”  Exodus 20:8

“Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.  Deuteronomy 8:2

“Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’”  Joshua 1:13

Luke 17:32  “Remember Lot’s  wife.”

As you looked back on 2023…

·        What important things did the Lord show you about Himself?

·        Pondering these, what adjustments will posture you better in 2024 to receive more revelations about Him?

·        What might God’s purposes be as you bring those remembrances forward into 2024? 

 Why don’t you take some time and ask Him.  It is still only January.

Carolyn

*McLelland, Kristi, “Rediscovering Israel: A fresh Look at God’s Story In Its Historical and Cultural Context”, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2023

How Are You Walking?

Greetings Again Readers!

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time for the days are evil.”  Ephesians 5:15-16

Another surprise of this “Pax season” came with the simple trimming up of my daily rhythms to accommodate all the walks.  That included a closer look at the overall scheduling, plus the re-ordering of priorities and details.  I love order anyway, but this new discipline brought an unexpected new freedom…and joy!  I’m smiling as I write this because one of my neighbors asked if I had ever been in the military.  She marveled at being able to almost set her own clock as she observed Pax and I maintaining our new schedule. 

However, the greatest delight came with new opportunities for sim lev and halakh. You see, with my Western mindset I often found myself reading Scripture as an intellectual, almost academic pursuit.  But the Eastern way: “…is to sim lev, to set Scripture upon your heart, over and over again, so much so that it can’t help but seep into your heart—to consume the Scripture so much that it becomes who you are.”*  Then teaching would illustrate how the Scripture would be walked out halakh.  Jesus often did this using parables.  And Jesus and His disciples walked everywhere!  (You might want to pause here and glance at a blog posted below on Monday, June 8, 2020.)

That, was the ultimate gift the Lord deposited into this season.  He used Pax to carve out precious, sacred space and time for me to walk in His sim lev Presence.  My morning devotions stuck with me in a new way because I was revisiting them over and over again during each walk - halakh.  It was a discipline that allowed God’s Word to seep down into the concrete particulars of my life…to become who I am.  Truly it was the best use of my time and it actually was God’s gift to me using Miss Pax.

Dear friends, how are you approaching Scripture…intellectually or with sim lev?  And…how are you ordering your time?  Have you done a mini-inventory lately?  Linked to this blog (and in the side bar) are two helps to get you started:  “Seize the Time” and “Ten Keys to Peace.”

"Seize the Time"

"Ten Keys to Peace"

Blessed halakh!

Carolyn 

*McLelland, Kristi, “Jesus & Women: In The First Century and Now”, Lifeway Press, Tennessee, 2022.