our very best.

I was listening to a cd today. Some may think the singer a bit pitchy or inexperienced. I hear passion and I hear past the pitchy and the inexperience. It made me happy and revealed to me that even though we should give God our best - sometimes our best is not the best of another. Sometimes our best is pitchy and inexperienced! And it's ok to simply sing!

If the very best that we can do is compared to filthy rags - then oh how I long to sit next to the one who sings off key at church - singing from the very pit of his soul - singing out loudly to praise the Lord with passion. To share with the artist who has something to say about their God - the God of heaven and earth using cheap paints with unsteady brushstrokes. To read the poem written by the teen that doesn't rhyme nor make sense but makes sense to her and to her God.

But we are all like an unclean thing,

And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;

We all fade as a leaf,

And our iniquities, like the wind,

Have taken us away.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

Do I deny to sing or to paint or to write because I don't think I am good enough? Or do I think that I am better than they? To God, if our righteousness is as filthy rags, then we are all the same. We are picked out by our intention. Yes everything comes down to the intention of the heart doesn't it?

this word: garment.

This word Garment - suggested by Rachel and I added an s.

Here we go.

Garments of sacrifice

burn at the fringe

they smell like lost innocence

and they cover over

they cover over

Garments of faith

taped to the paper doll

they look like sackcloth

and they feel like wool

they feel like wool

Garments of joy

dog-eared to remind

they taste like freedom

and they are warm like the sun

warm like the sun

Garments of praise

fall down with arms raised

they are likened to birds

and they reveal our hearts

reveal our hearts

I was thinking...

Being intentional is quite difficult. One tends to put too much emphasis on making words so deliberate that the words never come. I glanced around and found writings from the past. Non-sensical writings that revealed. So I read them and realized I can re-write them, just like God has re-written me.

~~~~~~~

written 2002 - revised 2010

and I was thinking

and that’s always unfinished business

when I stand

and I look

I forget who I am

until I see Christ looking back at me

and I was thinking

and I am always thinking

that my eyes were closed

when I read

the dance steps

of this passion played oh so sweetly

and I was thinking

when I wasn’t falling

how crazy silly

this faith meanders around me

when I talk to God

and He reminds me just how human I can be

and I was thinking

absurd as it sounds

that this little girl

is allowed to cry

because it isn’t so bad

and the ashes simply blow away

I try not to think about it

not to think anymore

that fits and tantrums

disfigure my face

when I whine

and You remind me of my sin

You hold my hand

and You tell me it’s ok

but I already knew

so I sang You a song

and played my deliberate painting

and left it unfinished

just like me

and I was thinking...

You already knew what I was thinking.

plastic flowers.

tin can rose.