For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the
cypress; instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be
to the LORD for a memorial, for an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 55:12
- 13 (NRSV)
Macrina is a Benedictine Sister whose
writings stir me. Just yesterday she
wrote about resilience. In that post she
used a line from a book, The Faithful Gardener, by Clarissa
Pinkola Estes, a
reflection “about Clarissa's uncle who, after
being wounded and broken in spirit by war, returns to life through
planting trees and gardening:
‘Something is
waiting for you to make ground for it so that it can make its full presence
known.’"[1]
Every farmer is interested
in the harvest. It would be pretty silly
to invest your time, energy and future on all that tilling, planting and the
rest without the hope of reward poking-through the ground, the full-presence
of our hope in God’s Providence.
Isaiah’s prophecy raises the
banner of God’s supreme reward: joy and
peace! Even the creation applauds and
opens up its bounty for God’s people.
At times in history visionary
political leaders have aspired to peace and prosperity, only to be thwarted and
cut-down by evil. The 1960’s were full
of heartache over the assassinations of Kennedys and Kings. What was to be “joy” turned to agony.
And the promise of Camelot and
equality and brotherhood seemed like a mirage of a carrot, dangling in front of
the downtrodden.
Jesus’ hopes for the New
World seemed to suffer the same crushing defeat as other altruistic and
starry-eyed political organizers. But
Jesus was no political leader; He was God, come to die for us. And He does not serve an elected term; the
Kingdom is eternal.
The fisherman Apostle, Peter,
expresses the inexpressible: joy anticipated in loving and being loved by a God
Who knows everything about me (omniscient), is present in every moment of my
existence (omnipresent), and can turn the universe on its ear with a thought (omnipotent)
-- yet still loves a weak, sinful, but hopeful somebody like me.
Although you
have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you
believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for
you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8 - 9 (NRSV)
This is that which is waiting
to make its full presence known in the ground you have prepared for it – joy,
unspeakable and full of glory; God – not just God incarnate – but God incarnate
– In You!
Today…for you
Do you suppose you can take
a few moments to stir the ground….disturb the soil of your existence a little,
to make room for God to take root; for God to plant His love down deep in you?
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