The photograph was old and grainy, varying shades of grey made it difficult to see detail; it appeared simple, yet I continued to stare. What is this I am looking at? Why am I so interested in two native missionaries traipsing through the mountains of Nepal? Sometimes I get stuck. And sometimes that stuck is just a me stuck and sometimes it is a God stuck, the photograph was the latter.
And then I saw it, I saw what He wanted me to see ~ she was hiking through the treacherous, snow packed mountains in a pair of flip flops. Sandals. A thin layer of rubber stood as the only barrier between the soles of her feet and the freezing cold. And the rest of her foot? Completely exposed. She is a native missionary who has made a choice to hike the Gospel into unreached, lost people groups in her homeland, she was not forced or coerced, she chose.
This morning I made my slow trudge through the streets of our island, I passed waterways as the sun broke over the water. And I prayed. Prayed for this nameless missionary and prayed for myself. Who was she that she would do such a thing? And who am I that I would not? I asked God this question, the same question that has rattled around my brain for the last few weeks in varying forms. Different words yet the same meaning ~ what am I missing? How do I receive more of You? Where is the disconnect? How do I live fully surrendered and entirely filled, constantly?
One lesson I have learned over the years ~ when there is a disconnect, the unplugged is on my end, not His, never His.
I prayed for her and I prayed for me and then He asked me a question ~ "What are you wearing on your feet?" I glanced down and felt His question, I felt it deep in my soul. You see, for my sad, slow treks around base, I run in a pair of $100 running shoes that will get replaced once I layer a few hundred miles on them. Who is she? She is a sister in Christ who lives a life of simple devotion to her Savior, an existence that does not rest on things, at least not things of this world. Who am I? I too, am a sister in Christ who is still cutting away layers of this world; a world that tells me on a constant, continual basis that I need that and I must have and certainly I deserve it.
I wonder ~ is it possible that we live in a society that is so consumed by consuming that we have little understanding as to how much God created us to consume? As a human being created amongst billions of others what is my intended share? When God knit me together in my mother's womb, how many calories did He design me to function on? The clothes on my back, piled in my closets, how much is enough? What did God say about wardrobe? Something of lilies of the field clothed in splendor by their Creator so not to worry. (Matthew 6:28, Luke 12:27) And I/we stockpile clothes as if we were facing a clothing famine of unprecedented proportions. We could dive into every area of the western lifestyle and the same question arises ~ do SO MANY have so little because we take SO MUCH?
So my frostbitten sister, how does she answer my questions of how to get more God? Simple. You can not fill what is already full. And we surely live lives full here in our pursuit of the American dream ~ full of things that fill our mini-mansions that house our too full bodies. We have not because we make room not.
We need more of God and He can not be bought ~ He already paid that price.
Isaiah 55:1-2 ~
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare."
So, I race on to shed pounds, no not of fleshy mass, but of dead, earthly weight that crowds out His voice, His presence. I race on to run simple and light, just as my Master ran His race.
Luke 9:58 ~
"Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
And then I saw it, I saw what He wanted me to see ~ she was hiking through the treacherous, snow packed mountains in a pair of flip flops. Sandals. A thin layer of rubber stood as the only barrier between the soles of her feet and the freezing cold. And the rest of her foot? Completely exposed. She is a native missionary who has made a choice to hike the Gospel into unreached, lost people groups in her homeland, she was not forced or coerced, she chose.
This morning I made my slow trudge through the streets of our island, I passed waterways as the sun broke over the water. And I prayed. Prayed for this nameless missionary and prayed for myself. Who was she that she would do such a thing? And who am I that I would not? I asked God this question, the same question that has rattled around my brain for the last few weeks in varying forms. Different words yet the same meaning ~ what am I missing? How do I receive more of You? Where is the disconnect? How do I live fully surrendered and entirely filled, constantly?
One lesson I have learned over the years ~ when there is a disconnect, the unplugged is on my end, not His, never His.
I prayed for her and I prayed for me and then He asked me a question ~ "What are you wearing on your feet?" I glanced down and felt His question, I felt it deep in my soul. You see, for my sad, slow treks around base, I run in a pair of $100 running shoes that will get replaced once I layer a few hundred miles on them. Who is she? She is a sister in Christ who lives a life of simple devotion to her Savior, an existence that does not rest on things, at least not things of this world. Who am I? I too, am a sister in Christ who is still cutting away layers of this world; a world that tells me on a constant, continual basis that I need that and I must have and certainly I deserve it.
I wonder ~ is it possible that we live in a society that is so consumed by consuming that we have little understanding as to how much God created us to consume? As a human being created amongst billions of others what is my intended share? When God knit me together in my mother's womb, how many calories did He design me to function on? The clothes on my back, piled in my closets, how much is enough? What did God say about wardrobe? Something of lilies of the field clothed in splendor by their Creator so not to worry. (Matthew 6:28, Luke 12:27) And I/we stockpile clothes as if we were facing a clothing famine of unprecedented proportions. We could dive into every area of the western lifestyle and the same question arises ~ do SO MANY have so little because we take SO MUCH?
So my frostbitten sister, how does she answer my questions of how to get more God? Simple. You can not fill what is already full. And we surely live lives full here in our pursuit of the American dream ~ full of things that fill our mini-mansions that house our too full bodies. We have not because we make room not.
We need more of God and He can not be bought ~ He already paid that price.
Isaiah 55:1-2 ~
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare."
So, I race on to shed pounds, no not of fleshy mass, but of dead, earthly weight that crowds out His voice, His presence. I race on to run simple and light, just as my Master ran His race.
Luke 9:58 ~
"Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
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