Dwelling places
image shot at Santa Cruz, California
Hello Friends!
How are you doing?
I hope you are having some time to bask in the Lord and are noticing His graceful presence in your life. We certainly live in a time of tensions and can feel the pull in both directions. We may agree and disagree with the tensions and they can make us feel uncomfortable. I’d like to share with you some of the tensions within my own place of being. More so encourage you to trust that God is present to the tensions in our lives, and He is faithful to be with us in them.
morning Dwelling Places (part three)
Let’s begin. Take a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Do you ever feel stuck? Or often feel caught up in striving?
These are the tensions I have been wrestling with. Talking with God about, reading about, and hope to glean from my experiences.
I remember as a child standing on the beach barefoot with my feet in the sand and the ocean waters crashing at my ankles. I’d feel the sandy waters covering my toes, look down and find my feet stuck while the waters pulled away. The waves force striving to move back into the ocean away from the shore.
Here I am stuck with my feet in the sand, unable to move and caught up in the productivity of the oceans world. What is my next move?
Remembering this feeling, I awake today and wonder why this image comes to mind. After a few sips of tea, I begin to realize that God has been working within me and helping me live with the tensions of waiting for things to unfold, and still moving along. What may appear as stuck and striving.
Maybe you wonder how these tensions are related. One keeps us in the sand while the other within the movements of the waves. The water and the sand both comprise the ocean. Our journeys have these movements in the physical at times, in the spiritual, in our emotions and relationally. Life is like an ocean consisting of currents, sandy beaches, waves, critters, debris, being stuck, swimming, or being carried out in the waters.
For me, as I feel deep empathy for others it can cause me to be stuck. I get caught up in the pains of others and can’t seem to find a way to move. Or I find myself striving to be compassionate but not knowing what would be helpful, and move about doing this or that. Empathy is good, and so is compassion.
PAUSE. LISTEN. I encourage you to name your tensions. Where are you stuck? Where are you striving?
I wonder, and then ask aloud, what do I do with these two tensions: stuck and striving? For me, with empathy and compassion? What is taking place within my mind, heart, and body today?
Today’s world, the expectations, and motivations can carry us into circumstances or attitudes of being stuck and/or striving- both keep us from being able to move forward. Much like a hamster on a spinning wheel.
PAUSE and LISTEN. I invite you to sit with the tension words and questions with your own wondering.
As I journal, I write down a few words. Taking a moment to reread what I just wrote, I notice I underlined the word “world.” I am immediately aware that I am longing for the wrong “world.” I don’t want to live by the world's standards but by the ways of Jesus. I long to be attuned and attached solely to Him. Is this why I am feeling stuck? Or caught up in striving?
Stuck in empathy and striving to move in compassion. Good things can still keep us from following Jesus wholly and without restraint- freely.
So, how do I begin to move with the tension of being stuck and striving? With God’s dwelling places and His longings?
I continue to LISTEN finishing my cup of tea. I invite you to PAUSE and LISTEN with your own wondering.
Picking up my Bible, I read Psalm 87 “Citizenship in Zion.” The title and word Zion captivates my first thoughts. Yes, this present world is not our place of longing, or dwelling but God is and His Kingdom. God always draws our minds and hearts back to the center.
As I listen, I recognize that I need a refresher on the setting, symbolism, and meaning of ZION:
An earthly place
A Temple, holy mountain, city, and nation where God is and meets His people
Heavenly throne of God, Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jesus
Place from which Christ rules
Listening to these descriptions my attention deepens, and I decide to carry on exploring what God may be speaking to me through His word.
Rereading phrases from Psalm 87:
“the Lord loves the gates of Zion” “more than all the dwellings of Israel”
“The Lord will count, the people and say, “This one was born here…”
“Singers and players of the flute will say, “All my springs and sources of joy are in You”
As I listen to these words, I hear the Spirit giving consolation to my questions and wondering. I journal these words of my own thoughts: The Spirit of God is in unity with His children and His children with Him.
I invite you to PAUSE and LISTEN as you journal and reflect on your own writing. What are you hearing as you listen?
After spending time sifting through my questions, feelings, and wonderings in prayer and conversation with God, I am encouraged to keep His words close. Hold on to them as hidden in the heart and ready to guide my decisions for today’s living. I no longer feel stuck or striving even though I have no definitive answers.
But I do have clarity.
A clarity that God is with me today. I can move, allowing God to direct my steps amidst the waves and tensions. His word is my dwelling place. My heart sings and lifts my feet to arise. I trust His work!
Take some time to reflect and journal if you wish your own noticing:
What word’s of God are hidden in your heart?
Hidden in my heart are these words _________________________.
What word’s of God would you like to hear from Him?
I long to hear from God ___________________.
Ask God to guide your heart and your feet within your day.
