Editor’s Note: This post was to appear November 25, 2021, but was delayed due to what we call life circumstances.
Upon turning the page in one of our calendar devotional books on Sunday morning, we saw a notation stating it was National Bible Week. It seems there is a week for everything these days, and while we admittedly do not keep up with such things in our household, we thought we would try to observe this celebration of sorts and be more open and interested in the celebrated subject. At the time, we did not know how this would play into our life adventures, but we soon discovered our theme of the week would be related. We thought we would share some details of our adventures and learnings in this week’s post.
“God is more intimate to me than I am to myself.” –Augustine
Theme of the Week: What Will Always Be
Our theme of the week started to take shape in our meditational and church readings, along with the music we were listening to. Each reading or song appeared to be sending us a message gentling nudging us closer to our faith (not religion, but faith—there is a difference). As we stepped closer to our inner souls, we felt reassured that despite all that is going on in life around us (pandemic, political unrest, social issues, financial woes, world economic issues, etc.) faith remains, as does God. Faith and God are there for us 24/7/365. All we need to do is to be open to what they tell us or ask us to do.
Granted, sometimes the message or the ask is not pleasant. But, and this is a big but, there is a reason behind it all, a reason we may or may not learn in our lifetime here on earth. There is nothing wrong with not knowing the reason. While human nature often makes us feel like we need to know, in reality, we need to exist in and through and beyond what we encounter in life. Not an easy task for any person on any given day. However, if we focus on existing, and by this we mean living, really living life, and not just going through the motions checking off boxes and running down to-do lists, we may just find that what we really need to know is right in the present moment, and we should be grateful and thankful for this fact of life.
“Aliveness springs from our making something of what we experience and receiving what experience makes of us.” –Ann Ulanov
Lesson of the Week: Simply Be
Our lesson of the week came from our readings and experiences in nature. I had the opportunity to go for several ten mile runs and some longer bike rides. (Admittedly, I had other things to do, but felt an inner force calling me to nature to deal with life issues). The experiences were amazingly wonderful despite some gray skies, rain, snow, and wind.
How can such experiences exist when circumstances appear on the surface far from what is desired?
I asked myself this question a number of times when running in the snow and rain under such gray skies that no ray of sun was visible. After running about four miles one day, I felt a sense of accomplishment in fighting the elements. After another two miles, I was able to clear my head entirely of nagging thoughts that had the potential to be detrimental. Around mile eight, the inner adrenaline and endorphins kicked in and this sense of calm came over me.
This is totally crazy. How can this be possible?
Then it hit me. Hard. This is life and perspective and our perspective is what makes or breaks every interaction, relationship, and living moment we have. If we choose to embrace all life offers, no matter what façade it is hiding under, we can find freedom. Finding freedom requires work, not only physically, but also mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. We must try in order to fly. And there is nothing wrong with having to try more than once or for an extended period to achieve the desired outcome.
If we choose to be in the moment, open, aware, understanding, and compassionate (with both others and ourselves), we have the potential to find not only what we need, but what others need from and in us. These others include God, relatives, family members, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, and pretty much any being or object we come in contact with on a daily basis. All have the potential to present opportunities to us. Some opportunities may be better than others. Some may force us to make hard decisions. Some may be healing, painful, easy, hard, simple, complex, wanted, unwanted, warranted, totally off base, and the list goes on.
All these relationships test and build the soul. Without the testing and building, we have a void.
“Soul is the blueprint inside of every living thing that tell it what it is and what it can still become.” –Richard Rohr
Song of the Week: Excuses We Plead
One of the songs running through our heads this week examines the relationships we have and how often we fail to use them to build a better us. The song admits some things are harder to accept than others, but in admitting these things, we come to see our own shortcomings and areas for improvement.
Alibis
She knows every move that a man could make
She knows every trick in the book
She knows how to give, she knows how to take
‘Cause so many times she’s been taken and fooled
By those alibis and lying eyes and all the best lines
Lord knows she’s heard them all
She’s been cheated on and pushed around and left alone
Lord knows what I’ve put her through
And boy, you can bet, if a move can be made
She knows how to make one on you
She once thought that love wasn’t just a game
Her feelings once came from the heart
One day I gave her a wedding ring
One night I tore all those feelings apart
With my alibis and lying eyes and all the best lines
Lord knows she’s heard them all
She’s been cheated on and pushed around and left alone
Lord knows what I’ve put her through
But boy, you can bet, if a move can be made
She knows how to make
Her own alibis and lying eyes and all the best lines
Lord knows she’s heard them all
She’s been cheated on and pushed around and left alone
Lord knows what I’ve put her through
And boy you can bet, if a move can be made
She knows how to make one on you
(Written by Randy Boudreaux, recorded by Tracy Lawrence)
The song got us thinking about the excuses we (and society in general) make in life and how God still seems to find a reason to believe in us and save us, often times from our own excuses. In essence, God uses the same alibi for everything—He loves us.
“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” –Exodus 14:14
Sights of the Week: Sun Amid the Trees
Our sights of the week came at sunrise and sunset. Despite a number of gray days, we still were able to catch glimpses of the sun shining through the bare branches of the trees. The sights were most welcome after hours of gray clouds slipping through the skies above.
The sun is a gaseous ball approximately 865,000 miles in diameter. It’s inner temperature is measured in millions of degrees and its energy source lies far beneath its surface. Intense pressure and high temperatures transform the hydrogen and helium that make up the sun’s composition into energy. This energy is transmitted to the sun’s surface and then radiated into space as heat and light.
Like the sun, we need interactions and reactions to find and define our inner energy potential. Unlike the sun, our inner energies can get misdirected easily, resulting in fatigue and less than stellar outcomes. Fortunately, the sun does not have the issues humans have, and can be a constant source of energy, power, light, heat, and hope.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.” –James 1:17
New Word of the Week: God’s Reach
Our readings took us to a new word we had not heard before. The word is numinous, which comes fro the Latin numen. Something that is numinous is an awesome, wondrous experience that pulls one into a transcendent moment. We suppose some of our moments this week would qualify (or at least plead a good case as) numinous moments. We had some really great interactions (and some less than stellar ones that in hind sight were we think to make the greater ones even better) and some quiet time in the stillness and dark of the early morning hours that felt magical.
“The ultimate aim of the human mind, in all its efforts, is to become acquainted with Truth.” –Eliza Farnham
Words of the Week: God Speaks
Our words of the week from the Daily Word devotional were grace, letting go, anticipation, prepare, thankful, and inner peace. The words tie back in many ways to National Bible Week and the Thanksgiving holiday. They also remind us God is everywhere in life, whether we see Him or not. The key is to acknowledge Him in our thoughts and actions, to try our best to live within His presence and love for us.
“God wastes nothing and includes everything.” –Richard Rohr
May we learn to see life for what it is—one running opportunity to become who we are meant to be. May our interactions and relationships with others help guide us, and may we recognize and be thankful for God in life.
This God of Life
He knows every excuse I give and make,
Yet still shows His love anyway,
He knows every place I have and have not been,
In the steps I take out of habit.
But this God of life
Still thinks that I’m
Worth saving for some reason;
Giving without taking away the seasons
That come and go
As I run from home
And come crawling back every time
Hauling what’s left intact inside
Through His saving grace
That keeps on taking place.
He believes I still have faith inside,
But some days I’m not sure He’s right
For I turn around and without a sound
Burn down like ashes upon the ground.
But this God of life
Still thinks that I’m
His child to hold
No matter how wild or old
I act or become
Trying to extract time where there is none,
Trying to see the dream
Despite being me
Full of reasons why I can’t seem to find whatever it is
But this God of life still thinks that I’m His,
And I guess I am despite what I can and can’t
Seem to do right or wrong,
But maybe that’s just part of living life’s song.
-Lisa A. Wisniewski
A Note of Thanks
Our thanks this week is simply for being afforded the opportunities each day offers. We appreciate what life and God offer us, and we hope we don’t disappoint either with our responses.
-Lisa, Leo, and Lena
Natural Deltas 