Kissed With Holy Flame

We had just finished our ice cream, his a butter pecan in a cup, mine a Kahlua chocolate fudge in a waffle cone, when I noticed the time. 8:15. Sunset. We threw away our trash and headed out the door of ZuZu's Ice Cream shop just yards away from the ocean that lapped St. Simon's Island. Yes, the sun had already begun its descent beyond the trees on the western horizon, and so I picked up my step, almost running to the end of the long pier so as not to miss the last kiss of the day.

I took my place at the rail among the holy silence and found myself being pulled into what Thomas Merton calls "the everlasting movement of gravitational force into the very life and spirit of God: God's own gravitation towards the depths of his own infinite nature, his goodness without end." I am not sure I have ever experienced a sunset with such an awareness of God. In silence and majesty, He was awakening in the depths of my soul; His skies sanctifying not only my eyes but my entire self.

At one point, I became aware of others who had gathered on that pier. Some had probably come for just this moment. Others found themselves there by chance. But incidental or deliberate, religious or not, for a moment, we all understood our position, and we remained silent, mute, in the presence of the Beloved. For a moment, we saw nothing in this world but His glory. For a moment, we all fell into insignificance. For a moment, we were all free from preoccupation. For a moment, time stopped and we entered into the eternal. For a moment, we were all awe struck. For a moment, we were all kissed with holy flame. 

Tears streamed down my cheeks as the sky blazoned and that great ball of fire dipped once more behind the Earth's western sphere. Yes, that One whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere, had found me and loved me. 

Then breaking the silence in the only way that seemed appropriate, one lone observer applauded.

Be still and know that I am God.

Just an ordinary moment ... turned holy.

Breathing Space

My husband and I just returned from a quick get-away to the north GA mountains.  There was nothing special about the occasion other than I had bought a Groupon several months ago and we had to cash it in before the end of April.  And, well, we're almost to the end of April.  But the timing was good.  I have just come off a season of teaching Bible study which, if I'm to be honest, always adds a little weight to my life, and I could use some REFRESHMENT in both my mind and spirit.

Refreshment: Webster's says, "something that provides new vigor and energy ... that makes fresh again."  Dictionary.com reads, "the act of invigorating."  But here's the one that RINGS my bell.  In the Greek, refreshment means breathing space.  Yes!   I could use some of that!

The weather forecast for Friday and our trip up was for rain, wind, and strong thunderstorms.  And indeed, the weatherman was right in his prediction.  But it was never severe and became for me a prelude to His gift of refreshing.  After all, don't you feel better after a bath?  I do.

Lunch was at Cafe International in downtown Helen.  The rain was only falling lightly and the temperature hadn't dropped so much that we couldn't sit on the porch and enjoy the calming view and sound of the Chattahoochee River while eating our sandwiches.  BREATHE ....

A planned breathing space was The Mark of the Potter situated on the Soque River.  Built in 1931, it was once home to Grandpa Watts' Grist Mill, which you can still see, and is literally filled with earthen treasures. 

Mark of the Potter

I bought these.

A wine goblet ... for communion.  I chose this particular one because of its outward simplicity and its crimson interior.  

A miniature vase for miniature wildflowers

A tea cup ... already being used as you can see

One of the interesting things about north GA is all the little shops and working studios stuck here and there throughout the countryside.  One such is Hickory Flat Pottery owned by Cindy Angliss and located on Hwy. 197.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the house itself, an historic 112 year-old homestead complete with tin roof, but when I got out of the vehicle, I was too taken with this little fellow.  A couple of clicks with my tongue, and I had his attention. BREATHE....

I bought several pieces once again, but this time, I had the artisan sign them: Cody Trautnor is his name.

Not only is he as cute as a button, he's going to be famous one day...

I found my happy place when I was filling them up.

Unicoi State Park is a wonderful place to "camp."  The view is great, the food is delicious, and there's a coffee maker in every room!  Not to mention this ....

Yep.  I spotted him when he stuck his little head out from under the bedspread on the floor.  I told my husband it was him (the lizard) or me, but one of us was going.

He chose wisely...

I have a feeling HE was breathing a prayer of thanksgiving at this point...

After dinner and before the sun set, we took a little hike down to the lake.  Sunsets are always nice.  BREATHE ...

On Saturday morning, due to the unseasonably cool temps, we opted for indoor entertainment and went to the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia.  It was so interesting to see a vessel made literally from ground up.  How richer the Word became as I watched a potter take clay from the ground, grind it, mix it, beat it, form it, and, yes, put it through the fire.  Indeed, He is the Potter; we are the clay.  Masterpieces, the work of His hands, according to Isaiah 64:8.

Our next stop was to The Gourd Place.  With Simon and Garfunkel playing on the CD player and freshly picked wildflowers labeled and placed on the mantel, it was nothing short of a sanctuary.  Both Priscilla and Janice bring their artistic flair and love for the "Creative Force" to those who enter.  This will be one of those places to which I will return again and again. I breathed so deeply there ...

Priscilla has developed and patented stoneware pottery molded in gourds.  Absolutely beautiful!

And what trip to the mountains is complete without a hike?  While at High Country Turquoise, where I found these 2 treasures:

Chalcopyrite (a sulfide mineral) -- you should see it in the sun!

Made by the Navajo 

... the owner suggested we walk the trail to Dukes Creek Falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest.  

It was just over a mile down ... which if calculated correctly means just over a mile back up.

But so worth it!

It had been a long time since I had stood in the spray of a water fall.  Refreshment in the full sense of the word! BREATHE....

One last stop before dinner was to The Willows Pottery, "nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians."  It, too, is a working studio and gallery.  And as an early Mother's Day gift, my husband purchased this pitcher for me.

I can't help but just love the "accident" that happened while firing.  It's my favorite piece!
"And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do." Jeremiah 18:4

The day ended with a trip down Scenic Highway 197 to Lake Burton and a breathing space at La Prada's  Chophouse where we sat on the porch overlooking the river and watched all the prom dates decked in gowns and tuxes ... being thankful we are on THIS side of that social calendar.

Yes.  Respites all along the way.  Wild turkeys, cattle among dogwoods, the sound of raindrops on tin roofs, a lizard, horses, experiencing God in odd places, and more shades of green than I could count.  My lungs were full and my spirit invigorated.

We left the following morning with one more impromptu stop ... and probably the biggest refreshment of all.

I got to eat lunch and play cars with this little man!

How grateful I am for this special weekend of refreshment.  A breathing space.  But as I sat with a friend this morning in a pain clinic, I was made all too aware of the need of so many not to just have a breathing space, but to take just one breath without pain.  And not just the physical kind.  Pain, after all, comes in all sorts of sizes and fashions.  But for so many, the pain is too much, the grief too great.  And a place to breathe must be found in something more than waterfalls and wild turkeys.  A lasting time of refreshment must be based on something greater than a piece of pottery or rolling green pastures, for one will eventually break and the other turn brown.  The promise is that the Lord Himself will give times of refreshing because He Himself is the Living Water and He Himself gives the Spray of the Holy Spirit.  

I love what Fleming Rutledge writes: "He [God] will send unexpected signs of His mercy and sudden surprises of His grace." He certainly did that for me this weekend.  Could it be that He will use you or me to do just that for another who is only looking for a little breathing space?

To whom can you be a breath of fresh air?

He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.  

Proverbs 11:25

Just an ordinary moment...

The First Step Toward Imitation

I had been looking forward to the trip for 4 months: a 2 night get-a-way to the north GA mountains in mid-October, peak season for the brilliant fall foliage.  To top it off, my husband and I were staying at the Brasstown Valley Resort which offered wonderful accommodations and breathtaking scenery.  So you can imagine the letdown when I entered our room, threw open the door to what I thought would be the balcony and saw this:

... stacked scaffolding -- and beyond that, the parking lot.  And let me just admit, if there's anything this girl enjoys more than a coffee maker in a hotel room, it's a balcony with a view.  And I had neither of the latter.  And quite frankly, I was ticked at God.  After all, our friends on the 3rd floor got "the view."  Miles and miles of rolling mountain view.

 

But what could I do?  I just sighed and said to my husband, "Oh, well."  But honestly, inside I was more than a little ticked about it.  I had been short changed for heaven's sake.  I had waited a long time for this trip, and by golly, I wanted a balcony and a view so I could sit outside and enjoy God.  (I make myself so sick at times.) 

 

The next morning, as we were on our way to breakfast in the lodge, I pointed out across the lawn and said to my husband, "When you get through with your meeting, you can find me there."  Lord knows I love a swing ... and there were 3 of them placed high above the putting greens.  And so after breakfast, I donned my denim jacket, loaded up my book bag, stopped by the dining room for a fresh cup of hot cinnamon and orange tea, and took to the stairs outside.  And this is where I found my place to breathe.  Shades of red, orange, yellow and green gave way to a blue October sky and rolling mountain topography.

If there's one thing I didn't want to do it was to keep my nose in a book for the couple of hours I was to be there; I wanted time to enjoy this sacred space, utilizing all my senses.  And so I chose Longing for God by Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe as my companion, hoping that the few pages I would read would spark conversation with the One with whom I hoped to commune.  And did it ever!

 

I opened it to where I had left off a week prior and found myself confronted (and I mean that in every sense of the word) with the chapter on Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ.  In it Beebe offers 8 steps or priorities if we are to indeed become imitators.  "The first step," he writes, "to spiritual transformation is to destroy our self-centeredness."  Oh, my.  This was not going to be good.  There were 7 steps to go, each one building on the former, and I was already stuck on #1.  And it got worse.  "Humility is based on perceiving reality accurately, including the truth that life does not revolve around our needs and desires."  Double 'oh, my" as my personal definition of humility was being challenged.  "The very nature of the spiritual life runs counter to our natural desires.  We do not discover happiness naturally.  In fact, our self-centeredness is so powerful that we fail to see that we cannot engineer our own happiness but only prepare for it." 

 

Wow!  Talk about a conversation starter.  It didn't take me long to recognize that my sorry attitude, outwardly silent as it may have been, was the antithesis of humility.  In fact, it was pure pride.  (Ouch. That hurts to even write it.)   Yet God, in His faithfulness, was quick to point out that sitting there in that swing was pure grace, in fact, as much so as on the one to whom He HAD given the balcony with  a view.

 

And so I relinquished my attitude along with the balcony and room view and thanked Him for His incredible goodness in that, while showing me His colors, He also showed me mine by calling me out in this first step toward imitation. 

 

Just an ordinary moment...

 

 

He Delights in Delighting!

The drive to Greensboro was uneventful.  Beautiful, yes, with all the rolling hills and green pastures teeming with Holstein dairy cows.  But like I said, uneventful.  My husband had to attend a mass property sale out in the middle of nowhere and I was tagging along … relying on “Sexy Mary” to get us there.  She eventually turned us down a road that seemed a little strange, but then again, we didn’t know exactly where we going; so we followed her lead – for several miles.  During this time, I heard a faint Voice say, “Get out your camera.”  For a moment, I didn’t respond … and then I heard it again.  “Get out your camera.”  So I dug around until I found it in the bottom of my purse and placed it in the cup holder next to me.  As we rounded a bend, my husband pointed up in front and said, “Look at the wild hog.”  And as quickly as he had called attention to the sow, he hit the brakes and said, “I had a feeling this would happen.”  We had hit a dead end – a gate was stretching across the road allowing no further access.  He threw the truck in reverse and began backing up looking for a place to turn around when he heard me yell, “STOP!”  Right there out my window were these little fellows.  FIVE of them! 

Their mother had ventured off into the woods when she saw us, and they were just left standing there all alone, the spackled one chewing  on a pine branch and looking at me with such curiosity.  I began jumping up and down as much as one could do with a seat belt and shoulder strap on, breathless, snapping pictures as fast as the shutter would allow. 

The shoats finally wandered on after their mother but not before I had come completely undone at the sight and close proximity of them.  I began beating my legs and laughing while exclaiming, “God is so cool!  God is so cool!”  And it is so true.  God not only delights IN us, He delights in DELIGHTING us! 

We finally turned around and continued under the new directions of Sexy Mary, but the joy continued to bubble up in me.  As we neared out destination, I turned to my husband and said, “Hey, if Dan wants to know why we’re late, tell him God needed to show your wife some pigs.”

Found yourself on a strange road lately?  Best get out your camera.  God might be getting ready to delight you.  He is so incredibly awesome that way.

Just an ordinary moment…