Love's Invasion

Show me Your glory, Father, so I can see the brightness of Your unimaginable beauty. Wrapped in mystery, You come to me—call me to turn and set my gaze on You.

I’m afraid of the Light, a penetrating laser into my life. The rooms of my heart stand trembling—shaking—bolted doors rattling, hidden stairways faltering.

Something knows, in the hidden place, the secret rooms of unknown space are facing, bracing—for the gates are sure to be flung open, not able to withstand invasion, devastation, a flood of love, a surge of life. A squall to overcome this fleshly strife.

The cities I’ve built within my heart, the faulty foundations, the chipping facades; the alleys and highways on which my thoughts fly and creep, the dull rooms in which I fall asleep.

Who I am is hiding in these corners, finding meaning through cracks in doors. Then suddenly—

As if being called from death, I turn and face a light and feel Your breath. You’re at my door, Your wanting in. You wait for me; yet I know, if I open, I will explode.

My carefully built city is beginning to falter, but still I know I am its master. My palms are sweating, my heart beats fast. Do I run to You or hold myself back?

And then I hear it, a mysterious sound; You are singing a song familiar and I am found enraptured, captured; as if my very DNA is reverberating a long ago dance it was meant to know.

I ask for grace to respond, to open the door and let the music resound.

Come like a flood! I surrender.

The city I have built is falling to the floor. I’d rather gaze on the One I adore and be melted than wander around in safe control of a house of wax.

I hear You knock again and now I respond. Lord come, I want to hear Your song. I want to see Your eyes. I want to be acquainted with Your smile. Come love me. Come devastate me.

Your flood will destroy my town of wax and in the rubble something precious will be found: the seed of me, my true identity. You’ll breathe Your breath and life will be born in me.

On Your rock, my only solid, I’ll grow and blossom as You sing over me. You’ll wash away all the debris and pick me up and dance with me.

And I’ll know Your truth and the promise that You’ll never leave. You’ll never forget or count me a bother. You’ll proudly bring me to Your Father.

You’ll introduce me to Your Spirit. You’ll be gentle and firm in Your steadfast love and you’ll never be fooled if I attempt a façade.

I’ll be a precious stone and a seal on Your arm, and as You become my master, I’ll find true freedom as I’m carried in Your Love.

Salt's no good on the Shelf

God has been showing me how incredibly simple it is to be salt and light as we go.

On almost every plane and train that I have been on in the last 4 1/2 months, there has been an open door with the person next to me that led to an opportunity to encourage and many times pray.

On my flight back to the States for Christmas, I was amazed at how people in the airports opened up about the difficult situations they were facing with terminal illness, in either their own lives or a loved one. I was humbled to see how many hurting people are all around us and how easy it is to never see them if we don’t look, or don’t open our mouths to say hello.

In deed, I feel that we are at a moment of great opportunity for these encounters. We have become so isolated and digitized in our communication, that people hunger for real interest and interaction. They long to tell their story and to have someone really listen.

The Incarnation is the miracle of miracles--that the Creator God became flesh and dwelt among men. Yet so often in our own lives we are careless of this gift. We create a castle of personal entertainment or polite small talk to hide behind rather than choosing to be flesh and blood to the people around us. We've forgotten that salt doesn't do any good when it sits on the shelf.  

I don't say this in judgment, for I am as guilty as anyone. But, I am desperate for the truth of the Gospel. I simply want to be more like Jesus, and He loves people. He sees people. As He walked this earth, He was among the people. He was so far past a "comfort zone" that He sacrificed His dignity, His popularity, His very life. As He hung naked on a cross, discolored and unrecognizable from abuse, He was so much more than among the people; He was drenched in their sin, their shame, their very stench.

He did all of this not out of self-righteous pity, but because He knew that when He paid the ultimate price, His coming resurrection would mean salvation for the world. Death was swallowed up in His victory, and He bought for us our freedom: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

As we go about our day, let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see. Let's train our hearts to compassion by our daily choices. Let's look beyond our need to feel good about ourselves and be motivated instead by love and obedience. And let's not be fooled by the lie that says we are being hypocritical if we don't "feel like it." The sweetest and most fruitful encounters usually come when we certainly don't feel like it.

"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:11-13).

The Apprenticeship...completed

Dear friends,

Well, the Herrnhuter Star apprenticeship has come to an end, and I am very pleased to report that I finally finished my star! As it turned out, it was quite fortunate that I was so slow at my star crafting because, little did I know, my sister had planned to fly me home to surprise my family for Christmas!! Probably my best Christmas present ever. You see, if I had been faster at building my star, I would have had to leave it in Herrnhut because there would have been no way to transport it safely with me on the plane. As it was, I was able to bring all of the paper points, or cones, and the round frame with me in a box in my carry on, and then assemble it together at home to give to my family as a Christmas gift.

It was so nice. I stayed up all night on Christmas Eve while the rest of my family was in bed. I glued the whole thing together that night, and finished at 4:30am. So on Christmas morning when everyone woke up and came downstairs, my star was hanging by the tree all lit up :). It was the best way to enjoy my first handcrafted-by-moi Moravian Star.

Here are the pictures of the last stage and the final product. The pictures with the star lit up are way brighter than in real life. I promise the star is not blindingly bright, only in the pictures. Next project I guess should be improving my photography skills.

Happy thoughts for a New Year

Sitting in my room my second night back in Herrnhut--having just unpacked and re-organized everything--I sip tea from my beautiful chinese teapot I finally brought with me from home, and think happily on the blessings of books, lovely music, warm thoughts of family, and a beautiful new year before me.

I don't know what's in store, but I hope that it plunders the depths of my heart. Should there be grief, I hope that I may feel it to the depth of His comfort. Should there be joy, I hope that I may know it in its boundless possibilities. Should there be trials, I hope that I may run face-forward to the challenge. Should there be victory, I hope that in His grace I will triumph. Should there be dissappointment, I hope to be vulnerable in His presence. Should there be comfort, I hope to find joy in the sharing. And should there be love, I hope to give a heart that is whole; a heart that has chosen the depths--to give every ounce and to recieve, unapologetically, all that Love Himself shall give.

Twelve is a good number: 12 tribes, 12 apostles, a dozen eggs, a dozen roses. It sounds complete, doesn't it? It's a full number, good and round. More then ten, it just feels like an overflow. Let's give it all this time around. I'm not talking about running away with your emotions, but embracing the depths of real life. Forget the pixilated stampede of endless notifications. Let's be generous in real time. Have an interesting conversation and ask some real questions. If you found that you have neglected someone, turn around and go back. When you realize you are having a truly grateful moment, take it further and do something to make someone else thankful. When you've done wrong, make it right; and when you've done right, make it better.

Be inspired and inspire others. It's what breathing's all about: taking it in and giving it out. And remember that man's first breath was the breath of God. Maybe we should start that way each day.

So for all of us out there in the bumper cars of life, remember, it's more fun to drive around and get hit than to sit in the corner.

Happy 2012!!!

The Apprenticeship continued...and a Christmas carol sing

Well, the apprenticeship has coninued. After many weeks of meeting together and working our our Herrnhuter stars, this week most of our group finished theirs...hooray! Unfortunately I am way behind. As you will see in the pictures, as the others are putting on the finishing touches, I am still folding and gluing my points together. That's ok though. I have had so much fun just sitting and working together getting in the Christmas spirit. I am amazed at how everyone's stars are turning out, so beautiful! I hope mine will work out in the end as well.

I also threw in some pictures from our carol sing last week. That was my first time to be invited to a party all about singing carols and hymns together. And let me tell you, it was Totally my thing!! I loved it of course. That's what I call Christmas spirit.

Herrnhut Christmas Market!

Today was the big day I have been waiting for--my first German Christmas Market!!! Not only was this my first Christmas market, but also it was right here in Herrnhut, my home.

In Herrnhut, the Christmas market is very special because the whole thing takes place on one single day. So that day, the population is multiplied and the usually quiet streets become packed with vendors and shoulder-to-shoulder shoppers winding their way amidst the crowd.

Although there was no snow, the Christmas spirit has definitely settled on this town. With the beautiful Herrnhuter stars hung above the streets and candles illuminating the windows, the early dark nights just got a little bit brighter.

A Little Local Culture: the Apprenticeship

So recently I have been able to immerse myself in a little local culture here in Herrnhut. I am über excited about taking opportunities to appreciate the many wonderful traditions of my new home, especially those related to this holiday season of cheer!

Apprenticeship in crafting hand-made Herrnhuter/Moravian stars:

Our dear friend and native Herrnhuter, Barbara Haupt has graciously offered to teach us the very special and unique skill of building these stars from scratch. It may sound like a nice little craft; but let me tell you, this is no small task.

First of all, the usual stars that are manufactured here in Herrnhut have 25 points. (These are beautiful. My family has one and we hung it up last year in Texas during Christmas and LOVED it.) We, however, are jumping straight in to the deep end by making stars with 50 points!! This is a multi-week project, and we are hoping to finish before Christmas :).

I'll let you know how the progress goes. We began the first week by cutting out, folding, and gluing our round base.

Week 2 in star-crafting:
Last week, the fun continued as we moved on from the round bases to the actual points--well, almost. We actually learned how to use the pattern to cut out and crease the paper for the points and prepare the tabs for glue. Most of us only just got started on the cutting and have quite a ways to go yet.

Precision is key because each paper has to fold into a point and have tabs at the bottom for the glue. This was my challenge, I kept tearing the tabs as I was trying to cut them. I would cut out a perfect point and then ruin it in the end after tearing off the glue tabs by accident. I got the hang of it though.

Now I need to finish cutting out all 50 pieces so that next week hopefully I can start the folding and gluing process. We shall see! I am going to be so proud of my very own hand-crafted-by-moi star.

Filen Dank Reinhold unt Barbara!