FROM HERE THE VIEW IS BEAUTIFUL!

From Susan Hillis:

Yesterday afternoon, at the base of Stone Mountain, I saw a little girl who appeared to be about 5, running out of a small clearing where she had tarried by the lake to peer up at the towering mountain with its impressive carving of valor and sacrifice.  Looking me in the eyes, she burst out, "From here the view is beautiful!!!" 

So I had to go stand where she had been to see for myself.  It was not the carving that caught my eye.  It was the glory of God's radiant light shining all around the single young tree that was growing, impossibly, out of the very top peak of the stone summit.  And the Lord reminds us, "Tarry away from the crowd. Be still [and know that I am God].  LOOK UP!  And you will see My glory. And we, with unveiled face, all behold the glory of the Lord!  Nothing is between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of His face. And so we're transfigured, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him." (II Cor 3, ESV and MSG).

At this season of Thanksgiving, may we have our eyes opened, daily, to see His beauty in creation in a fresh way, right along the paths of our lives, where, "from here the view is beautiful."  Lord, you promise mercies that are new every morning.  It is easy for me to get so mired in looking at the weeds and stones of errands, disobedience, rebellion, unteachableness, that I miss the mercies.  I see a mountain of stone that looks impossible to scale, instead of the tender tree growing miraculously at the very top.

How often do you want allowance?

How often do you want allowance?  Every week?  Every month?  This is what I tell our kids.  "Hey guys....I know how we all can get allowance every day!  Not just every week or every month!  Every day!   The last verse of Jeremiah says, "A regular allowance was given 'her' by the King according to 'her' daily need, ...as long as she lived."  Help us, Lord, to live on your daily allowance of mercy, so vibrantly loud through your quietly tranquil creation.  Only this way will I really see the beautiful view with any consistency. 

Daily light

It is those two words the Lord whispered to me one morning several years ago as I peered over the field in back of our house...daily light. I understood that today's light is new and present today - we do not walk around today borrowing the light from yesterday's rays of sun...no, the light I have today is from today's rays - not yesterday's and not tomorrow's.  How do we get this light?  "The unfolding of Your words gives light."  Whether through creation or music or pictures or scriptures. We just need to unfold them....because "from here the view is beautiful."