The sun has been shining bright the past couple of days over this part of the world. The daffodils are already open in some places (mine are still in the bud stage). The birds are going crazy in their mating dances outside my windows, catching the corner of my eye even when I’m a good distance from the windows (it’s even better when I’m sitting on the patio swing and they begin dive-bombing me from all sides).
The sun is like that, right?
Warmth. Light. Soak deep into all of God’s creation. Spring is that renewal time when anything seems possible. The deep darkness of winter is drifting into the recesses of the long term memory banks, and the light permeates its rejuvenating warmth deep inside those places that had been locked away for a period of time – as if – no good thing has been withheld from all creation.
“For the LORD is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.”
Psalm 84:11-12
Between dive-bombing birds and love-struck squirrels playing on the portico above my head, I have needed a shield to sit outside. I watch my choc lab girl rolling in the wet dirt and sunning herself in between the times she is trying to keep all them critters away from her precious ball.
Preparing for teaching each week is also a shield of sorts. It is the shield of something that I have surrounded myself with for many years. The routine of prayers as I think about what the Father wants me to share with those He has placed in my sphere filters out everything except what He is whispering or nudging me to discover.
Anyway this week, as I was digging through the dark closet’s overhead shelf, looking for some of my old photo essays that I could share with the 7th graders, I pulled a file down, and things started to fall. Arms and hands immediately covered my head, not sure what else was falling. The sunlight from the window across the room caught a few of the words as they fluttered to the floor. It was the missing part of a chapter that I had been looking for since the beginning of February.
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Thomas Ken, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”
Public Domain
If I could still dance without my arthritis haunting me for days, I would have been dancing much like I did when I was little, dressed in my mom’s old lace curtains. I threw down my shield of arms and picked up the pages as the rays of light highlighted the words I had been seeking. Then, like the crazy ol’ lady I am, I hugged my lab girl until she almost fell off the chair (yes – I let my baby sleep on her recliner).
It was then I remembered what I had read in my devotions this morning…Psalm 52: “…no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly…”
Tabernacling in 2021 during Lent brings many new shoots of wisdom. His Son brought Light and Warmth to those around Him as He walked among us. He continues to bring Light and Warmth to those who choose to enter His sphere. His love providing a shield to cover us when the darkness threatens to overwhelm us, and we begin to feel the new blooms of joy burst wide as we rejoice in His Son’s Light and Warmth. #Hedrawethnigh
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