David looks back

After 2 Samuel 23:1-7 

He looks back and sees

the sheep on the hillside,

the prophet with his oil,

the giant taunting the army,

the five stones in his hand,

the days of serving the king

who hated him, the king’s son

who loved him, the hiding

in the wilderness, the death

of the king, his own crowning,

the battles continuing,

the woman on the rooftop

whose husband he had killed,

the growing of the kingdom,

the son who rebelled,

the victories, the defeats,

the songs he wrote,

the prayers he prayed,

the God he served.

It always comes back

to the God he served.

 

Photograph by Liliia via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Be an Iceberg Christian – David Mathis at Desiring God.

 

Anne Bradstreet: Stirring Poems of a Puritan Wife – Tiffany Brannan at The Epoch Times.

 

What is the Biblical Way of Progress? – Glen Scrivener at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Should Christians Feel Guilty for Being Patriotic? – Sean DeMar at 9Marks.

 

Laugh It Off: Bearing ridicule well points to the wisdom of the cross – Elizabeth Stice at Comment.

“Glory Happening” by Kaitlin Curtice

When I was a child, family vacations usually ended up in the vicinity of the Smoky Mountains. Even when primary destinations were North Carolina or Washington, D.C., somehow my parents would work the routes so that we would stop for at least a few nights in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with drives through the Smoky Mountains National Park. Gatlinburg was a tourist town even then, but it looked radically different from what it does today.

A native of flatland New Orleans, my mother loved the mountains. And every trip we made, she could be counted on for saying “You feel closer to God in the mountains.” It wasn’t for reasons of altitude. It was because of the quiet and majesty of the mountains, the sounds of the roadside rivers and streams, and the sheer splendor of nature.

For writer Kaitlin Curtice, you don’t have to go to the mountains to find and experience the divine. In Glory Happening: Finding the Divine in Everyday Places, Curtice finds grace and glory in the everyday and the mundane.

A card game. A cave. A lost dog. A garden. Goats and chickens. Friends. A blood transfusion. A child with leukemia. Seedlings. Hunger. A theft of a laptop computer. Simple things. Obvious things. The things of everyday life.

Part memoir, part observation, and part prayer, Curtice has assembled 50 short reflections, each marked by a quiet simplicity. She brings the close eye of the writer, not the professional observer or watcher, but the writer who pauses, looks, sees, considers, and understands. She sees just enough, and provides a glimpse of the divine. Her response is prayer, and each of the 50 writings includes a prayer.

Kaitlin Curtice

The wonder is there, she says. Stop long enough to look for it. You’ll find it.

Curtice is an author, writer, speaker, and worship leader. Her writing focuses on the intersection of culture and spirituality. She’s writer for Sojourners, Decaturish, and Red Rising Magazine, among others. She blogs at her web site.

Glory Happening is an invitation to open your eyes, look at what surrounds you in your everyday life. You don’t have to travel to the mountains to find God.

Top photograph by Robert Collins via Unsplash. Used with permission.

I met a man

After Isaiah 65:17-25

I met a man from

a faraway place,

his eyes tired and

his shoulders dropped

with burdens cast upon him,

a young man who had seen

too much and not enough,

trapped between hope

and despair, I met a man

from a faraway place, eyes

filled with pain and hurt,

and I told him hope

exists, it’s coming as

in the promise, and the image

in the mirror cracked

and spoke back to me.

Photograph by Matthew Henry via Unsplash. Used with permission.

It’s not winter yet

It’s not winter yet

but it should be

            leaves gone

            frost, chances

            of ice, sleet

            but not snow

            yet

watching the rain

through a glass wall

puddles pimpling

with raindrops

dreariness and darkness

dreariness of soul

and spirit

the man walks by

with his umbrella

open

sit by the glass wall

watching the rain

watching the reflection

curtained by rain

it’s not winter yet

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Portraits

The hallway is dark

as he moves slowly,

expecting to stumble

but lights turn on

over portraits

portraits of his past,

his birth

childhood

his mother tending

his knee, scraped

tending his brothers,

portraits, his schools

and people he knew,

friends, teachers, cooks,

portraits, the light

shining above each

to illuminate each

singly, his life

or lives, his wedding,

children born,

portraits, career success /

failure, portraits.

His pace quickens

to reach the end

the final portrait

he sees the light

above it and as

he arrives

at the final portrait

the light goes dark.

Photograph by Maliz Ong via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.