Glorious Mountains and Valleys

Sunset over the Cathedral Group in the Tetons

Every week needs a day of rest, a time of sabbath. Yet in our quest for productivity or simply in our busyness, we shortchange ourselves and deplete our resources. Our tanks can be empty, and we may not even know it. Running on fumes will not long sustain us. Our bodies and souls break down, tipping us off to the need for rest.

We find rest in many places, physically and spiritually. The beauty of nature holds hidden the ability to astound us when we look with open eyes. Such beauty opens our souls and lets in a vision larger than ourselves and our troubling circumstances. We need frequent reminders to look up and out; the call to take our eyes off ourselves rings out daily. The scenes above serve a feast for the eyes and spirit!

Prayer at Evening Time
 
You, O Lord, offer renewable renewable resources! You quench soul thirst. You meet our deepest needs, even when we are unable to articulate them to ourselves. So we come to you on this Sunday evening...a rainy September day....at the close of the month that marks a transition into fall..and  we draw near to you. Restore, in your mercy, those who come in weariness. Grant us peace, to those who carry the heavy load of grief. Prompt with your immense love the reminder that we are loved with an everlasting love.

Everlasting God, you are our starting point and our ending place.
We praise you and honor you.

Your are our Rock...
Our hiding place.

You are Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.

You offer the cleft of the rock as our protector when we need a shield from all that assails us in this life.

You are our solid ground. You offer firm footing when we seem unable to navigate on our own strength for seasons of life.

Then when we thirst and grow weary--for we always grow weary alone--you provide springs of living water...pools of refreshment along the way... sometimes from the most unlikely sources: from a patch of dry ground, from the kindness of strangers, in a loving word spoken in due season...and through the mystery and power of your Holy Spirit.

You are our Healer. We acknowledge our need of you and  bring our cares to you, for you are our Resting Place.

We remember the prayers for others we offer today--not because you need to hear them from us--but because we want to model as a way of living taking all our cares to you, for you care for us. In our doing so, we pray you will set us free from the destructive cycle of worry. 

All glory and honor to you,
Amen


Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2

You are my hiding place; Psalm 32:7

I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand   Exodus 33:22

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  I Peter 5:7

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; Psalm 55:22

He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. Psalm 18:33

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2


Photo note:
A friend sent these photos from a drive through the valley, capturing the vista of sunset in the Tetons and the approach to the lovely little Chapel of the Transfiguration, built in 1925, at Menors' Ferry, just north of Jackson Hole. Photo at bottom is Jenny Lake in the shadow of the range.  What a magnificent sight! Thank you, Chuck.

Beach Days

Turquoise green surf nibbles bleached sand in the morning. As the sun eases across the southern sky, the wind today whips up white tips in soft peaks: seven minute frosting on emerald waves. I am giving thanks and 'dwelling in the land' of this simple beach. Perhaps somewhat in the manner of Psalm 37, I am definitely heeding the psalmist's admonition to fret not this week.

People find relaxation in different ways, but an uncrowded beach in mild, breezy weather is about as good as it gets to me.

Languishing at the water's edge offers a delightful respite from the rest of life's demands, even if only temporarily. It provides a time and place to pause and take in a different sight. 

Breathe recycled salty air. 

Gaze at tonight's full moon after the Venus-crossing-the-sun episode today. 

Marvel at nature's beauty when seen from a new vantage point. 

No special equipment required; no competitive activities needed by this one to provide a welcome change of pace from weekday routines. I'll leave the games to the laughing, running ones with evenly tanned bodies. I'll be the one asleep with a book in my hands under the shade of a fluttering umbrella.

Having written 'simplify' as a goal recently, I may even take a note or two to share on that point. 

Tomorrow.

Excerpt from Psalm 37:

Fret Not  was my friend Vicki's sermon title from this passage one Sunday.

When fretting becomes a way of life as it has for so many, this may be helpful to remember. The language is a little archaic, and it speaks too much of evildoers and the wicked for my taste, but I share it as a resource nonetheless.:

Do not fret..... 

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
    do not fret —it leads only to evil.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
    yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
    or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
    their children will be a blessing.^[b]

²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
    then you will dwell in the land forever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves the just
    and will not forsake his faithful ones.

²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land
    and dwell in it forever.

³⁰ The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
    and their tongues speak what is just.
³¹ The law of their God is in their hearts;
    their feet do not slip.

³⁴ Hope in the Lord
    and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;    

³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
    a future awaits those who seek peace.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
    he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they take refuge in him.

Cease Striving: Let it Go

"Cease striving. Be still and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10

Can you put yourself in the picture above? How wonderful if we could sit beside the streams of flowing water for just a while, and take in the sounds and earthy aromas of the woodlands and waterfalls! That primal connection between rest or relaxation and water is widely acknowledged, if not understood, and is the basis for replicating sounds of trickling and flowing water in spas, relaxing music, even in sleep machines. The sound triggers the imagination and memory, but does not replace experiencing the presence of actual flowing water in this beautiful setting. At such a time, I just close my eyes and lodge it securely in my mind, banking it for memory.

The directive 'cease striving' means in the Hebrew, "let your hands drop"...."let go". It is a simple practice I like to incorporate and one small step to enhance relaxation. One of the easiest ways to be aware of signs of physical stress is to look at our hands. When our hands are gripping each other, or clenched, or fingers are nervously fidgeting, these are visible indicators of inner conflict or stress. Notice your hands and unclasp them, then hold them palms up, loosely cupped, in your lap or in a neutral position. Repeatedly doing this little exercise helps us become aware of the stress cycle we unwittingly perpetuate in our bodies all the time. Similar steps are to relax a furrowed brow, drop and roll shoulders to relax tension in the neck, and otherwise address the ways our bodies hold onto stress. Learning how to let go can feel artificial at first, but can become second nature to us as we learn means of practicing peace in spite of our circumstances.

We struggle to hold on to things we should let go all the time. If we release or commit our cares to the One who cares for us, we take a first step in acknowledging that we are in the healing presence of God With Us - Emmanuel. We learn to rely on God and to relax in the Presence so that we can learn to wait on God's provision. I need to emphasize that for myself:

Release or commit cares
Rely on God
Relax in God's Presence
Wait on God's provision.

Relaxing hands and furrowed brows is but a step in becoming aware of how our physical posture affects our mental/emotional state. Please do not mistake suggestions or practices or coping skills as substitutions for putting ourselves squarely in the presence of God who alone gives Peace and transforms our hearts and minds. We can become enslaved by human rules of how to 'do it right' and miss the point. We can begin to think we've got it all together and are doing pretty well by ourselves, thank you. A prideful self-confidence or independent spirit has no need of relying on God for much of anything.

There is an interesting caution in Jeremiah 2:12,13 that reminds me of the human tendency to strive for independence at great cost.

"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; Be utterly shocked, declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves - broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Cisterns are just man-made pottery for collecting and saving water. Accumulating cisterns - broken ones at that - is no match for living in the presence of the fount of living water!

"Let it go. Be still and know that I am God. And I will be exalted among the nations."

Photo by Prentice Stabler, Great Smoky Mountains National Park