pathway

pathway
Give me my scallop-shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My script of joy, immortal diet,
M
y bottle of salvation.
My gown of glory, hopes true gauge,
And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

~Sir Walter Raleigh

A hiker, walking for pleasure, likes to choose between several alluring trails.
The pilgrim desires only the road that leads home.

~Frank W. Boreham


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Surprised By Truth. Again

Just in the quiet course of today's reading there came that "touch it to see if the ink is dry" moment.

Reading Walter Riggan's commentary to the book of Numbers, this definition of shalom was written:

"...the peace which alone reconciles and strengthens,
which calms us and clears our sight,
which frees us from restlessness
and from the bondage of unsatisfied desires,
which imparts the consciousness of attainment,
the consciousness of permanence
in the midst of the transitoriness of oursel'es and of outward things."
~Montefiore, Jewish scholar.


This is the peace we are promised by our Lord, the peace from Him which the world cannot take away.

That's the word for This Day.

It is enough. 
It is more than enough.

Lord, grant this peace this day.  
Blaze it through each moment,
that in my life  any semblance of this peace can be clearly seen as being from you alone. 


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Moving House, or "Here We Have No Continuing City"


The time has come.  The editing of our life has begun in all seriousness.  This will be move # 28 for us in 56 years of married life.  While considering myself an expert packer, moving house is still one of life's traumatic events, let no one tell you otherwise. 

The scale to which we must reduce chattels is major. It isn't so much that I've been a collector as such, more that I've been a saver.  [You don't know what you might need next time round, in the next home etc.] Alas, it adds up to a houseful no matter how it is sated! 

Hopefully, after this move this time, there will be no next time. Lord willing, from this new abode coming, we will simply lift off when we hear The Trumpet.  No packing required.  Or go underground to await that Trumpet.  No packing required for that either.

How does one edit?  Delete? (How I wish there was a 1-click button for this process.) 

In the early years of the Home & Garden channel programing, one addressed out of control homes where clutter ruled.  The family members were shown how to bring order out of chaos, how to let go, get rid of things.

The woman who led this was a gracious woman but ruthless.  One of the phrases she oft repeated, when faced with an item on which much sentimental stress was placed "This is not your Mother" (or father, grandmother, etc).  "Hold the memory", she said.  "If necessary take a photo, but let go".  Sterling advice to this professed Pilgrim.  I'm trying.  With all my profound and spiritually minded statements in times past, I humble acknowledge that I'm a clinger.  I know its stuff.  I know its temporal and "all going to burn."  But still....

 When it comes to closet and clothes editing, my daughter laughingly keeps before us both what Franciscan John Michael Talbot says when choosing the outfit for the day: "Shall I wear brown or brown"?  Its not likely I'll reduce to that extent, but I'm aiming to make the maxim a reality:  "Simplify, simplify, simplify".

So Dear Reader, this is where I've been and where you find me This Day.  There are innumerable cartons to fill. Yet, in the days ahead I will have more thoughts and comments to make, no doubt.  Bear with me and keep tuned in.

In the meantime, eendeavoring to ever keep before myself the absolute and certain fact that truly here we have no continuing City; and that we are looking forward to the City which has a fixed and firm foundation, whose Architect and Builder is God. 

Yet, for now, looking forward to moving to the home of a much beloved daughter.