Sunday, October 14, 2007 at
Pine Island Presbyterian Church
Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile:
build homes, plant gardens, become family. Sing the Lord’s song in this foreign land.
In essence: bloom where you are planted.
But what if, and I may start sounding like the Israelites,
what if this exile is in the form of illness or broken relationships,
depression or financial woes, grief or despair? These too are foreign lands.
Why would I want to bloom in one of these God-forsaken places?
How am I to sing Your songs here? Give me reason to recite a Psalm of praise
or a song of gladness and then I’ll consider singing Your song.
Then, when I’ve finished ranting and raving,
I once again hear the still, small voice:
Be still, and know that I am God.
In the midst of exile, in the depth of depression, in the pain of illness,
in the agony of brokenness and being broke, in the darkness of grief
~ I am still God.
I have not forsaken you. Ever.
Stop for a moment and consider what you do have control over:
Your own soul.
The work of your hands
– and this is about desire and intent,
not quantity or accomplishment.
The song in your heart
– and if it’s lament, then sing it as if you mean it,
they are also my songs.
So maybe you’re not exactly blooming, putting out beautiful blossoms
and fragrant petals. Maybe instead you’re putting down roots that
are reaching deep into the soil of My grace. Or maybe you’re resting.
It may seem as if nothing is happening, no growth is taking place.
But the growth is up to Me, in My thyme.
Bulbs need thyme for the growth to happen within.
And rest is necessary, sometimes for a very long, long thyme.
Rest in My love, in My Sabbath care.
Your welfare is ultimately within My love.
Blooming, or rather resting, in the darkness…
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