If it be your will....

I've been listening to Jann Arden's rendition of Leonard Cohen's song, "If it Be Your Will" again lately. As it played this morning I realized I wanted to put the lyrics up here again. They're reflecting parts of my heart's position lately. I'm particularly drawn to the second and third verses.

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

The Words Finally Came

When the words finally came, they poured out of me, like pent up emotions needing to be spent and given audience.

They tumbled out of the tips of my fingers, all 1989 of them, in a rush to say the things my heart has been echoing for the last several weeks.

They've travelled to different friends by email, and eventually, some of them will probably wind up here.

I feel released, ready to head for bed, and prepared for a new week full of new challenges.

I am learning to rest in truths - truths about who I am, but more importantly truths about who Jesus is.

The words finally came.

Good Intentions

I had really great intentions of getting some much thought about pieces of writing accomplished today, but they were waylaid with people stuff.

I had coffee with one of my youth girls this morning. She leaves bright and early tomorrow morning for Germany to go to Bible school for the next year. It was great to have a chance to hear her heart and pray for her as she goes.

While I was still with her, another friend, with whom I've been trying to reconnect for several months called me and wanted to know if I was free today. I immediately accepted the invitation and we spent the afternoon doing some errands together and catching up on everything that's happened in each other's lives in the year since we were last together at her wedding. So special, and we parted with promises to see each other much more frequently in the coming year. She's also fluent in Spanish, and has promised to email me a translation of the Lord's prayer. I learned to pray the Lord's prayer in Spanish in high school, and have done so often in the intervening years, but somewhere along the way lost my printed copy of it, and forgot the last half of the prayer. I'm rather delighted to know that the remainder of the prayer will be arriving in my inbox shortly!

I need to go prep for Sunday school tomorrow morning, so that's it for tonight. Tomorrow I'm hoping to accomplish the writing and other things that didn't get done today.

I'm dreaming of really fun and deep and beautiful things these days. I feel like life has been reawakened in me in the last couple weeks. Someday soon I'll share those things!

Suicide Headline

In my ongoing interest in mental health issues, this article on the rise of suicide rates, particularly among young women was both interesting and concerning.

Blessing One Another - Henri Nouwen

Blessing One Another

To bless means to say good things. We have to bless one another constantly. Parents need to bless their children, children their parents, husbands their wives, wives their husbands, friends their friends. In our society, so full of curses, we must fill each place we enter with our blessings. We forget so quickly that we are God's beloved children and allow the many curses of our world to darken our hearts. Therefore we have to be reminded of our belovedness and remind others of theirs. Whether the blessing is given in words or with gestures, in a solemn or an informal way, our lives need to be blessed lives.