The Waystead Watch

Psalm 102

I am like a great owl in the desert,
I’ve become like an owl in the ruins.
I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.


Tao te Ching -Twenty

Give up learning and put an end to your troubles.
Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
…..
(But) I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.
…..
Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea,
Without direction, like the restless wind.




Hafiz – Effacement

Effacement
Is a golden gun.
It was not easy to hold it against my head
And fire.


I needed great faith in my master
To suffocate myself
With his holy bag
Full of truth.


I needed great courage
To go out into the dark
Tracking God into the unknown.


And not panic or get lost
In all the startling new scents, sounds,
Sights,


Or lose my temper
Tripping on those scheming
Night and day around me.


Hafiz,
Effacement is the e…

John 12:27-36 (35)

Then Jesus told them,

“The light is among you for a short time.



Walk as if you hold the light, so that the grasping darkness can’t get a grip on you.



Walking in company with darkness,

you do not know where you are being led.”



The above is the result of pondering the meaning of the Greek words, in Mounce’s Reverse Interlinear translation.



I don’t have a whole lot more to say, except that I really like the images of ‘holding’ the light, and of ‘grasping darkness.’

Jeremiah 15:10-21 The Message (MSG)

You know where I am, God! Remember what I’m doing here!
    Take my side against my detractors.
Don’t stand back while they ruin me.
    Just look at the abuse I’m taking!
When your words showed up, I ate them—
    swallowed them whole. What a feast!
What delight I took in being yours,
    O God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I never joined the party crowd
    in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself.
    You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.
But why, why this chronic pain,
    this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?
You’re nothing, God, but a mirage,
    a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!

19-21 This is how God answered me:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
    Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
    Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.
Let your words change them.
    Don’t change your words to suit them.



Take it …

I am tired of self-help memes on social media. I do not need validation. I do not need strangers to tell me “You are loved,” or “You are beautiful,” or ”You’ve got this.”
I can’t stand it when people trivialize and dismiss genuine pain by saying, “It’ll be okay.” How do theyknow? How could they possibly know? Why doesn’t it occur to them that what they are really doing is using a shallow platitude to shield themselves from the reality of another person’s pain?
The world is a hurty place, it really is! —But it’s a happy, agreeable place too.
The truth is that the world is an incredible, astounding, absurd, wonderful place filled with beauty, horror, love, joy, hatred, violence, healing, triumph, grief, and the ego-shattering realization that it’s not just about you.
It’s perfectly fine for us to adjust our feelings, and to do our best not to descend into self-pity or negativity, but shouldn’t it be obvious that it’s not a good idea for anyone to maintain an internal monologue about …

John 6:27-40

Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life..

Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away. For I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of the One who sent me. And this is the will of the One who sent me: that I should not lose any of all those he has given me but should raise them up on the Last Day. Yes, this is the will of my Father: that all who see the Son and trust in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on the Last Day.

Suddenly the meaning of this familiar passage shifted in my mind—

What if Jesus was talking about his Last Day?What if “raise them up” meant raising us up on the cross with him? That idea makes trust the central focus of the entirety of the Good News! It’s not just ourtrust in Christ, but Christ’s trust in us, and in God; culminating in God’s trust in all of us.

Imagine what it would be like to not on…

My friend said,

“I think I’ll cut myself a slice of grace…”

and I thought, “What would grace taste like?”

Sour cherry pie?

Buckwheat pancakes?

Eggs and bacon?

Tuna salad?

Single malt scotch?

and then I thought, “What would grace smell like?”

Petrichor?

Sagebrush?

Granite?

Baking bread?

Coffee?

Oh, and then there’s this question— “What would grace sound like?

Wild geese overhead?

Friendly laughter?

Wind in the pines?

Meadowlarks?

Fire crackling?

Last but not least, “What would grace look like?

Sunset from the freeway?

Birds in the bird feeder?

A sleeping dog?

Falling snow under the porch light?

Moonlight on a mountainside?

A familiar face?