These last three posts are not meant to be a formula, merely an artistic display of how Father and I work and play together. And in my humble opinion; minimally, all art ought to have an affect on the emotions, and spirit.
I was tired, tending, always tending…sleep was interrupted, the irritated screaming my son couldn’t control was draining and went on for days sometimes weeks.
I was guilt ridden; there were words in the bible that said I wasn’t to grow weary whilst well doing. Problem was, I was “well doing” and…I felt weary.
My body felt weak, therefore, my soul suffered somewhat, my spirit was less affected, but affected. It is okay, human to feel tired, even exhausted.
Growing weary, or despairing takes in the whole of us, bodily exhaustion, a disconnected soul and an unresponsive apathetic spirit. No one wants to despair, but sometimes…*sigh, there we are, in the pit.
I looked to my secret-spirit-spot, where His Spirit dwells and felt hope (He will always be with me), opened the eyes of my faith wide; there I saw the only One who has the credentials to restore/make-better-than-new, my soul.
I have hunted and mined these word-picture-nuggets, they help my understanding of the soul and spirit differences. But then, I am a very visual learner. Now I am able to share with you (though, I’m sure you already know, as I am usually at the back of the class).
To me, they are much like a tree diagram. My spirit is the root (my source of power/grounding), the upper tree my soul, personality, or that which is perceived by others. This part of me converts Light into that which is usable for my “tree” from the air/world around me. This is how I grow, or not.
Nature speaks; if the root is healthy, the tree grows.
I envision, High Father, the Holy One, creating my unique body out of His organic artistic materials, you know, mud and such. He then hollowed out a placed inside of me that is perfectly fitted to His shape; a spirit spot, a place for Him to dwell closely with me, a place from which to help me navigate my living out of pure poetry, sheer artistry. This is my deep place, my secret place, His and mine and I cherish this place.
I stand back and watch The Gardner, The Artist spill plentiful seeds, gifts and talents into my soul/mind. He smiles and I wonder, what kind of seeds are in me? It will take a lifetime for me to know each special plant, to display them all. I am convinced, beyond a lifetime. I show off His artistry most optimally when all my places are for one goal, my highest spirituality (not to be confused with a list of rights and wrongs, or behavioral modification). Then and only then will I be wholly, me…A healthy, useful tree.
*You will find the name, He and Him pertaining to,
Father most of the time in this post,
but I believe, God has no gender,
is without form and is as congenial as a loving Dad,
yet as complex as ALL: Indescribable Beauty.
I apologize for any redundancy, but I
feel I need a short recap for any who missed
the last two blogs.
THE BODY , the content given to blog number one, is fairly easy to understand. It’s a temporary tent, husk (as St. Paul calls it), or the temple of the Holy Spirit and carries our spirit and soul around while we live life on earth. It is a good idea to take care of that temporal part of our forever being. It is made up of organic material, therefore, it is expendable.
We are told that those who are inhabited by Love, will get a new body in Heaven. I can’t even begin to explain the latter. It is far to high for my finite mind.
THE SOUL, as discussed in the last post, is that part of the three that is me, plus. I will not be whole if I don’t add, The Plus.
I like to call the soul the seed-house of the inseparable-three, the spot where, if I choose, I allow my unique seeds, gifts and talents to be husbanded by the Inhibitor of my spirit-spot to recreate me, with my help of course. He and I are constantly working to eliminate weeds (we will be pulling weeds till kingdom come), or in other words, selfish traits that hurt my relationships with He and others.
Gifts and talents, I have found, left doormat are seeds that don’t push towards the heart, then up and out toward Light. They often end up ingrown and can, if left untended, move toward self-serving. If I seek out the Gardener and walk with Him through our secret place, I notice that His eternal light causes me to grow green, strong and healthy, plentiful for all to glean from; those within and without The Kingdom.
When souls and spirits are well tilled, planted, watered and tended by ourselves and The Husbandman, it is, as some say, the perfect storm.
AND NOW…
THE SPIRIT is slightly more complicated, mysterious might be a better word, but I am going to try to explain it simply.
As stated above, it is my thinking that we are all created with a place for, the Highest Spirit to reside, to take up a comfortable residence as our helpful Muse, our Teacher and our Comforter and if you will, the Light, the Power, that grows our garden well; from our secret place and that place alone, He aligns all of our three parts, spirit, soul and body, to be in perfect harmony.
This Magnificent Being, who created each child carefully, has the potential to slip inside of that spot if we are open to who He is and desire Him. He is not a bully, or a rapist and will not force His way in to the secret place, but it is my belief that He will hover and woo each child till that child either, invites Him in, or dismisses Him as nothing, then as the bible states, you have grieved Father and He bows out gracefully submitting to the wishes of that child. He is after all, The Father of all Fathers. However, even those of us who invite Him in must realize that He will only be as useful, in that place, as we allow. He makes Himself vulnerable, to me, this is one of the most enduring qualities of, Strong Father. I have heard some explain Him as a metaphor, not the actual All Powerful Being He is who exists without form. This shuts down the Light. Neuters His propagating power in and around me.
If that is true, I state without apology, I would be in big trouble.
IF GOD is all knowing, why did He allow man to fall? This dying thing is sort of gory and weird; why didn’t He make us like the angels so we could be forever with Him?
Well, because I love story, I will just say this, He is the Ultimate Author. He is telling a magnificent story and you and I are just special enough to be a part of it.
Now we are enabled (because goodness resides inside of us) to reconcile our selfish nature unfit to rule our triune selves, and call the High Father in to help us take in hand our new nature. Now we are free. He did not make puppets, but co-laborers. He gave us that power, that gift through His death. I’m ever so thankful for that.
Magnanimous Being hovers (I love that word) around me. He is over all, creation speaks of Him, but the best place for Love Spirit, as stated above, is inside of my spirit spot, my holy garden, where He tends me uniquely with the utmost care.
There, in our secret place, our spirit and soul are now joined with, Spirit. Our garden blooms and grows into a most glorious place. Harboring more beauty than we could have ever imagined; a place where others are welcome to come walk, enjoy and more importantly, where we work, co-labor together with Him to create the most useful, happy garden we two can possibly grow. Eventually, one little human being, the real us, all that is forever, spirit and soul, becomes a mature and useful garden.
*Note, patience required.
This Magnificent Being, who created each child carefully, has the potential to slip inside of that spot if we are open to who He is and desire Him. He is not a bully, or a rapist and will not force His way in to the secret place, but it is my belief that He will hover and woo each child till that child either, invites Him in, or dismisses Him as nothing, then as the bible states, you have grieved Father and He bows out gracefully submitting to the wishes of that child. He is after all, The Father of all Fathers. However, even those of us who invite Him in must realize that He will only be as useful, in that place, as we allow. He makes Himself vulnerable, to me, this is one of the most enduring qualities of, Strong Father. I have heard some explain Him as a metaphor, not the actual All Powerful Being He is who exists without form. This shuts down the Light. Neuters His propagating power in and around me.
If that is true, I state without apology, I would be in big trouble.
IF GOD is all knowing, why did He allow man to fall? This dying thing is sort of gory and weird; why didn’t He make us like the angels so we could be forever with Him?
Well, because I love story, I will just say this, He is the Ultimate Author. He is telling a magnificent story and you and I are just special enough to be a part of it.
Now we are enabled (because goodness resides inside of us) to reconcile our selfish nature unfit to rule our triune selves, and call the High Father in to help us take in hand our new nature. Now we are free. He did not make puppets, but co-laborers. He gave us that power, that gift through His death. I’m ever so thankful for that.
Magnanimous Being hovers (I love that word) around me. He is over all, creation speaks of Him, but the best place for Love Spirit, as stated above, is inside of my spirit spot, my holy garden, where He tends me uniquely with the utmost care.
There, in our secret place, our spirit and soul are now joined with, Spirit. Our garden blooms and grows into a most glorious place. Harboring more beauty than we could have ever imagined; a place where others are welcome to come walk, enjoy and more importantly, where we work, co-labor together with Him to create the most useful, happy garden we two can possibly grow. Eventually, one little human being, the real us, all that is forever, spirit and soul, becomes a mature and useful garden.
*Note, patience required.
NOTE, OUR FERTILE field, our spirit place is either filled, or waiting to be filled with The Husbandman, the Comforter, so that it might begin to grow, but it can also be filled with any number of other gods, small g’s. What comes of the latter will be a garden spot ill tended, tares will grow there and go unchecked.
Streams looking for our Source.
What about those special people that can’t speak for themselves? I live with my son who has autism, day in and day out and I’m certain my Zach has found his Source and dwells with Him in that beautiful garden spot of his that some might feel is unfruitful because he can’t speak and doesn’t appear right. If he is capable of having a unique relationship with his family (and he is), I believe he has the ability to have a relationship with Father. I sense the greenness in his soul, whatever that may look like (that is between he and Father), and I am assured, his garden grows well. I am also aware that Zach may be one of the most pure beings I’ve ever met. Yes, even when he bangs his head and yells at me because of frustration.
BUT FOR WE CARE TAKERS…
When I am worn and tired, I get myself quiet, I hear the longing of my spirit spot, crying to be tended and I know it is The Gardener who is calling. I need to take some time to go inside of my secret garden, and to abide there with Him. We carefully tend what needs tending, pull what needs pulling. Without Him, it is a lonely desolate place.
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW MY FRIEND?
 |
| I’m certain my garden is laced with lavender |
ME and YOU, plus HIGH FATHER equal powerful, purposeful
and
beautiful to the Kingdom on Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven.
Like trees planted by springs of living water our roots will run deep, we will not be moved.
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