Look

Join us over at Lisa Jo's House?

And if you want to share five minutes too, here are the rules:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

LOOK

photo credit

GO

I checked my phone this morning, caught the day's word, and put Look on the shelf to be tackled after grammar and Algebra I, decimal multiplication, and President summaries.  I thought about Look as I made lunch and hurried to complete my tasks before I hit the road to see a cross-country friend for a mere few hours.

I opened my computer to write about art and paintings, creation and muses and the mystery of having a guide reveal what the creator saw.

And this is the image that opened first in my window.  And I wept.  For us.  For them.  For the messy, burned corners of humanity that paint with blood.  For smoke that burns our eyes and blurs the created image of beauty.  For the cacophony of noise that hurts to hear, especially over our own raised voices.  

I wanted to spend five minutes writing about touring the National Art Museum and the wonder of seeing what the creator breathed into the canvas, all because I had a guide to reveal these things.  How often do we stroll through the museum, priceless art hanging everywhere and miss the real life, framed for all to see.

And as I cry to God about all this ragged beauty around us, wondering what I can possibly do to restore these works of art, I am reminded as He leads me in discovery I am able to really see His word ~ alive, breathing, cupping the bloodied body of the broken close.  You must LOOK to see.  It is in looking that the covenant is seen.  LOOKING is the small seed He plants.

STOP

But don't.  Don't stop.  Look around and see His word is alive and this world is just an overlay to it.  When Jesus speaks of God's Kingdom being like a mustard seed, or poppy seed, or pine nut, this Kingdom has been planted deep in you.  Look and see the world and don't despair, instead sink roots deep and drink of His word.  Grow tall enough that over your lifetime the very eagles ~ birds of prey ~ will find shelter in your arms.  We must be more than bloodied, burned, and smoking edges.

“God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. 

It is quite small as seeds go, 

but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, 

and eagles build nests in it.” 

 The Message 13:32

Praying.

For our world.

For our country.

For our leaders.

For our faith.

For the ability to LOOK at another and see the beautiful work as the Creator does.