The pain of holiness
The crushing embrace
Purity
Transforming
Sin into forgiveness
Righteousness
The glory
Frail man
Embraced
Immovable
Wonderful
Holy God
The sweet agony
The painful embrace
Holiness
this poem came about after hearing a woman speak of her son's broken collarbone. they were vacationing and swimming in a lake. the husband picked up the large, teenage son, and carried him. it was such a beautiful image of our broken bodies borne up by the loving Hand of God. it remains a testament of how God loves us enough to crush us. "if you fall on this rock, you will be broken, if it falls on you, it will crush you." we cannot escape the crushing majesty of God, Kabod Yahweh.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
perfectly imperfect, impeccably flawed, wildly tame, certainly uncertain, seriously silly, simply complex, boldly meek, richly penniless, irreverently reverent, brutally honest, consistently inconsistent, traditionally untraditional, comfortably uncomfortable, master servant, reputably disreputable, extraordinarily ordinary, literally metaphoric, socially reclusive, functionally dysfunctional, conservatively liberal, punctual lately, beautiful disaster, morbidly optimistic
hire me
happy me
happy nee
kali me
completion
joy
read me
hear me
bliss
bliss
my eyes travel these roads
gentleness
restraint
contentment
excellence
Followers
Blog Archive
-
▼
2004
(96)
-
▼
June
(21)
- deprivation
- minority opinion
- cOUrUge
- the f word
- anguish as art
- editing
- breath of God
- will morning come today?
- first-drafter, part three
- first-drafter, part two
- confessions of a first-drafter
- fires of heaven
- celebrity
- Romans 9:33
- signature of jesus
- more thoughts on poetry
- good/bad poetry
- was that You God?
- monks
- a good father
- warriors
-
▼
June
(21)
siouxsiepoetuncensored
counter
| Powered by website analytics technology. |
2 comments:
This poem rings with truth and so does the image.
I've often felt that a profound conviction of sin and the accompanying discomfort this can cause is a sign of the Holy Spirit's presence more than the kinds of chills and goosebumps one might experience hearing a good worship singer. I find that many Christians want to run away when the embrace starts to crush, when the conviction starts to illuminate dark recesses in our souls we'd rather not have exposed to the light. But, oh, to remain there. To allow that anxiety-producing, run off screaming in the night feeling of conviction to become sweet tears, longing for righteousness, repentence, confession, forgiveness, cleansing--and the joy that comes in the morning.
As I work on a manuscript that I've been tinkering with for something like seven years, I have been thinking about how hard it is and how long it takes to write well. That so many people who are thinking about developing one-sheets and hoping to get an audience with editors are probably ten years away from the kind of mastery of the craft required. A lot of awful discipline and painful rejection lies ahead.
Same with our spiritual walk. You go into the average seeker friendly church and you're told how awesome God's love is, and how great you're going to feel when His peace permeates your life.
Just as we're not told about how hard the writing road is, we're not told how hard the road to sanctification is. Thus, when many Christians hit those moments of crushing, they flee. They turn up the praise music louder, they rush off to a church social, they think the enemy's attacking them. They do everything except sit and allow themselves to be crushed. They think there's something wrong with them when they experience that pain, and when their ugliness is brought to light.
But, it's the only way we come out being like Jesus, to have all that old life crushed out of us. And it hurts.
Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't.
The joy, the peace, the love, the all the rest that's promised us is there---but it's on the other side of many, many crushing embraces. Especially if you're a stubborn one, as I have been.
as always deb, your words elighten and exhort. i would not have yielded to the crushing majesty of God had he not eliminted my other options. that is not to say he removed my choice from me, but He didn't tell me the day after i got saved that He was going to break me and crush me, not for many years did this even occur to me. a bruised reed He will not break, a smoulding flax He will not snuff out. so too it is with us. you must be healed and healthy to be broken by the Lord. He will not crush you for crushing sake, He will woo you and love you and give you every chance to choose the easy road, but when you come to love Him entirely, largely for the healing and health He has lavished, you will willingly go down to defeat, you will allow yourself to be broken bread and poured out wine for the refreshing of others. there no longer is the question of what i want, it is only, what do You want for me Lord? He doesn't force us into this place, but He rejoices when we arrive there. then He crushes us. the blissful agony, the crushing embrace, purity.
Post a Comment