The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gave it light,
and its lamp was the Lamb.   Revelation 21:23

The street lights shone, cold and unfeeling, in the chill night. Streets deserted, windows empty, like blank stares. The stars had disappeared and neither was there moonlight. Not a soul, not a soul. The lights flickered and then went out, and for a moment all was darkness. But then a  light began to shine, no earthly sun. It originated not in the east or west, but from nowhere and everywhere. Then could be seen a small animal climbing the steps of the house of the law-givers, its hooves echoing in the streets of the city. The doors opened and entered in the little one. The population awoke and assembled to witness this strange event. And in the lighted watchtower, the new light shone.

++++++

There is a secret wind that blows across all of us. It moves us and gives the impression that we are moving ourselves. It fills our lungs and then withdraws, and we think we are breathing. In the soul’s winter, it tingles and numbs our fingers and toes in a barren arctic landscape. One hears it blowing in the vast empty spaces of the deep darkness and mistakes it for death. In the springtime of the soul, we sense the scent of lilac and apple blossom and newly turned earth. We are tilled and sown, sprouted and blossomed. In the summer, it blows in from the desert with a scorching heat that makes our souls listless and our minds restless.  It circles and circles and circles until, in the soul’s autumn, it lifts each of us up like a leaf and deposits us in a great meadow. There, one may be burnt in a great pile as an offering pleasing to the Lord or left to rot among the tangled vines and brush that lie in the valley beyond.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Did I First Hear Your Name?

Image
Your name is a flowing perfume— therefore young women love you.  Song of Songs 1:3 When did I first hear your name? It was spoken to me as a child and sealed with perfumed oil. I knew not words; it sounded to me like a river through a forested valley, its waters flowing from the snows of the mountains over great rocks and down magnific falls. The sound grew clearer, even as I turned away from you, for you spoke words of forgiveness to me and fed me from your own substance. Clearer still did your name resound when my sister led me to the temple, where I left childhood behind and was introduced to the duties of a man. I ran from those duties, stupidly seeking life in death, never knowing what I truly sought was life in your name. At last, you brought me to my lover and made of us a self beyond self. Still I was not complete, for I did not know how to say your name. Until I realized we were three and you were three and all things were three, and in the three finally I could und...
Read more

Out of Darkness

Image
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.”  Luke 10:18 An angel stood by the confluence of two immense rivers. He gestured to me and pointed to them. Heeding the angel, I came forward and this is what I saw. One river was red, while the other's water was crystalline. Far up by the headwaters I could see a red hillock, cleaved in two, that seemed to be moved as if by great tremors. In the east and the west and the south, the land was punctured by large metal shafts. Next, I saw a immense cloud approach and turn the sky to black. A flash of lightning split the sky, and the roar of thunder shook the earth. The heavens opened, and angels fell down by the banks of the rivers and wept. But the cloud began to pass and the downpour changed to a soft, refreshing rain. The angels looked up and saw that the sun was emerging, and a great rainbow stretched from horizon to horizon. Shouts of victory echoed, and the angels leaped and whirled and embraced one ...
Read more

Give Us Your Son

Image
So they said to him, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."  John 8:19 Like Abraham with Isaac, God sacrifices His only Son for us because we ask Him to. The difference is that we ask because we are faithless and demand that He prove his love and loyalty to us. “If you love us, if you are truly a faithful father, give us your only son.” Unlike Abraham and Isaac, there is no relenting when the moment of sacrifice arrives. We insist on Jesus’ sacrifice. ****************************************************************************** Though Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three persons, They are also One. Thus, when the Father sacrifices the Son, He sacrifices Himself. So too with the Holy Spirit.
Read more