Day 1 – Where are you walking?

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and (IN HIM) is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

CONNECTED THINGS:

The night before last I had a dream and in it, I kept trying to put on a pair of sandals, but I could not get them tied. As I pondered that I thought about how shoes, spiritually, can represent our walk. I thought about how in Exodus 3:5 God tells Moses to take his shoes off because he is standing on holy ground or how in Ephesians 6:15 we are told to have your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In Joshua 5:15, Joshua takes off his shoes when he encounters the commander of the Lord’s army because he was standing on holy ground. In Mark 1:7 John the Baptist says about Jesus, that he wasn’t worthy to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandals. Sandals or shoes also represent power, authority, and calling.

So back to the dream – sandals that can’t be tied or wont tie – cannot be worn.

So, what am I trying to walk in that isn’t for me to step into? ….wow.

QUESTIONS

I often worry about what other people think – most of my writing is straightforward and I try to share clearly what I am wanting to express. But here is a space of vulnerability and I find myself shying away. I guard my heart today. So, I am going to answer these questions in poets’ prose – word pictures and verse.

Evaluate: Where am I? Where have I been?

In a sea of a million people, I feel so small
I throw pebbles of goodness 
in hopes that some will see them
I find weariness in my soul 
Am I doing something worthy 
or like the sign I see 
Blessed are they who go around in circles for they shall be called the big wheels
Am I just spinning tires 
splashing mud 
It kind of feels that way most the time.  

How has the fellowship between you and the Father been?

I hear Him speaking 
Teaching 
I see Him watching 
Waiting 
I keep talking thinking wondering waiting 
Do I understand? 

Have you been close? Have you felt far away?

A walk by faith that knows He is near 
While a sense of Him stepping back to watch what I do with what He has said 
Much like a you see when a father gives a young child direction and then he stands aside to see how well his child has listened. 
Testing, testing, 123
Face Forward girl 
don't get distracted 
Do not fear 
Faithful in all things 
this is clear

Where have you been? What’s distracting you?

Go here 
Do this
How are they?
What's that?
What do you mean? 
Why are you doing that? 
Can't it just be this way...

Perhaps the cares of this world have been choking 
Perhaps the worries of "will this be ok?" have been stalking me

Oh sweet Papa... 
call me away, call me away 

Action: Confess the things that have come up in your heart and mind, even those “well that’s not so bad” things too.

I write this sorry as in a psalm 
Confess the heart unburden my palms 
the things I hold that I grasp too tight
The words
The face
The action
The heart
I wonder...
have I been trying to wear sandals too large 
Grand ..... Yours
Hold this 
Do that 
Stop it 
Come here
grasping tightly the back of the neck 
turn here
left 
right
now bow
have I been trying to hold a scepter and a staff 
Forgive me Lord 
I release again 
Return again 
Let go AGAIN. 

Thanks for listening,

Starla